picspam and book talk

[auntiemeesh]

I took my camera with me yesterday when I went to the grocery store, and took lots of spring pics. So, time for a little Spring Picspam.



It's still early, so very few bushes or trees have leafed out, but it won't be long until everything is green again. In the meantime, the trees are sporting a variety of buds and blossoms.







Most of the traditional spring flowers have started to bloom, just in the past week.

Daffodils


Tulips

Most of the tulips are still budding, but a few in especially sunny spots have burst open into full, riotous color.

Crocuses

My favorite are the purple ones, but these white ones just jumped out at me.

Daisies?

I don't know, my ability to correctly name flowers is iffy at best, but these make me think of daisies, so that's what I'm going with until someone can give me a better name for them.

Dandelions

I know, most people think of them as weeds. But they are such a bright, sun-drenched weed that they make me think of the best parts of summer. And so they've been included in my picspam.

In other news, a few friends and I started up a science fiction book club a few weeks ago and today we had our first book discussion. I volunteered to host this first meeting, thus the grocery shopping yesterday. I never quite got around to cleaning however, so I had to get up early and do that this morning, along with preparing some food for our lunchtime meeting.

I had way too much food, but the good thing is, I'll have lots of leftovers for the week ahead. I made a simple pasta salad with angel hair pasta, red and orange peppers, grape tomatoes and light italian dressing. I also bought some sourdough bread to go with it, but somehow we never opened it, so I'll have a whole loaf to eat this week. Nom, nom, nom. I also got some pepperjack cheese, wheat crackers, apples, and mixed nuts as snacky things. Yay for yummy foods.

We started off with Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. It was an easy read, and led to all sorts of interesting discussion which ranged from social control, to politics, to religion, to who knows what else as we wandered around in our thoughts. I've never actually participated in a bookclub before so I have nothing to compare it to, but I think it went well. Next up, we're reading To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis. Plus, I now have a list of other books to put on my 'must read soon' list, that came up in conversation during the discussion. This is very good.

Comments

[shirebound]

Thank you for these glimpses of Spring!

Mmmmm, you serve lovely food. :)

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

*sets out a tray of yummy foods for you*

How much spring do you get? I'm so used to living in a zone that gets four distinct seasons, and I know CA is a bit different than PA in that sense.

[shirebound]

It's spring here, but not for long! We tend to go pretty quickly from chilly/rainy to warm/sunny (and then hot hot hot/sunny all the way through October).

[lyda-pearl.livejournal.com]

The little purple one might be a wild feranium, or not. The maple flowers are so pretty when you stop to see them. We are losing snow fast so we'll be having spring soon.
To say nothing of the dog sounds interesting...maybe I'll check it out.

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

Are the red buds the maple ones? I thought the branch looked maple-y, but I can only recognize maples by the leaves. My tree identification lessons didn't stick very well. :)

[lyda-pearl.livejournal.com]

yup, the red ones are Maple. See how the buds are opposite each other on the branch? That's a big clue to maples.

[whtmtnwmn.livejournal.com]

With dial-up, I can't quite get the photos to download, so I'll have to try again tomorrow. The first few of the trees are very lovely though! Can't wait till Spring arrives in the northeast!

Great idea for a sci-fi book club! Brave New World is on my list of gotta-reads too. Maybe I'll suggest that for one of our discussions in the group I'm in?! Glad it went well!
=D

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

Dial-up and photos just don't mix very well.

[antbee362.livejournal.com]

Love the pics. I have been meaning to take some too but haven't gotten around to it.
I read Huxley in high school but I don't remember much detail. I have never heard of the Dog one so maybe I will have to look into that at some point

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

It's becoming a semi-annual thing, spring and fall picspams. They are just such pretty times of year I can't resist. :)

[atomicpagan.livejournal.com]

Wish I lived closer. Love your book picks. I signed up for a local club, but they were pretty snotty. I got kicked out because I couldn't show up much, because I work second shift.

[lyda-pearl.livejournal.com]

that's just not right.

[atomicpagan.livejournal.com]

I'm probably better off. : )

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

I second lyda_pearl. No one should kick you out of a book club just because you're work schedule doesn't coincide every time.

[atomicpagan.livejournal.com]

I think the mod/dictator was just enjoying being large and in charge.

But, yeah, way to encourage membership. XD

[ansostuff.livejournal.com]

It looks like you're a few weeks before us with the spring stuff. We have planted crocuses and snowbells and narcissuses but that's about it. Trees are starting to bloom though, but it's very early yet.

Your lunch sounds yummy. As do the scifi book club. :)

Thanks for sharing. :D

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that in a week or two the trees will be greening up a bit more than they are now.

[ani-no-mouse.livejournal.com]

You sure do beautiful work with that camera!

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's the miracle of digital. I can take a hundred crap pictures and post the three or four that come out nice, lol. :)