Good Things Happened - Saturday in the park

Friend Laura and I had just finished our walk at Mountain Park Park last Saturday, when her friend who fosters dogs stopped to chat.  I looked down and one of them was standing at attention on his hind legs, without moving.  "He wants to be petted." she said.  And so we did.

A little boy was hanging out with his father, waiting for the ball field to open.  I smiled at the wee one on my first pass by.  On our second pass, he approached and said he had picked this bloom for me. 

It's been gloomy here for days (and strangely warm), so that's why this photo from the drive thru at Starbucks isn't more bright than it is.  The cherry trees are blooming already!

Here's something not to be gloomy about - it's Friday!  Yay.  I hope your weekend is amazing, my friends.

Hanging out, cloudy sky and reappearance

This lovely little tulip was hanging out all by itself at the park on Saturday morning, just waiting to pose for the camera.  It was a lovely respite, this walk, after a week of battling traffic during, what we're calling, The New Normal, in Atlanta, after the I-85 bridge collapse.

And back home at the condos - a glorious Saturday morning sky.  I was walking over to look at the dogwood tree, there on the right, but love the look of that cloud formation and a couple of puffs of cloud that had escaped, there at the top.

And the pink Dogwood tree in the condo driveway blooms again.  Someone did a wonderful job landscaping this complex when it was built 30 or so years ago.  It's lovely to see old friends like those pink blossoms reappear year after year.

Hope you have a good week, my friends!

New admirers, curiosity and time to go

- Friend Janice's dog Chili on a walk with the gals on Saturday morning at Mountain Park Park.  He is still a puppy and in obedience training, so he went with us to practice.  Here - he encountered some new admirers - friends also walking at the park.

- And here he is asking, "What are you doing???"  Oh please - like you haven't had cameras on you before.

- And here, he is signaling his intent to move on, but being very polite about it.  The adults could have chatted all day. 

The path, book browsing and new home

- The path before us was so lovely on Saturday morning at Lilburn Greenway Park that I had to stop and snap this photo with my phone.  Friend Laura doesn't know I have a blog, but doesn't ever seem to mind my serendipitous ways of stopping at random moments like this during our walk.  There had been a spring rainstorm the night before that made the morning sparkle.  If you click to enlarge, you can see the sun's rays flowing down through the trees.

- Saturday was full of local activity - here, a book sale at Tucker Reid H. Cofer Library.  I came by to pick up an audio book to listen to during my commute and was drawn into book browsing.  I put the audio book down to snap this photo and accidentally left it there.  A very nice librarian left a very nice message at home that it was (again) waiting for me at the circulation desk. 

- I got these two Anne Rivers Siddons books for a total of $4.  I have always meant to read these two books, both set in the city of Atlanta.  Ms. Siddons was born in nearby Fairburn, Georgia, and is a beloved southern writer.

- And both books were signed "For Connie - Warmest wishes - Anne Rivers Siddons".  A little sad to me that Connie has given up (or had to give up) her signed books, but they have another good home now.

Mr. and Mrs. Duck, Mac and Scout and green thumb

- Mr. and Mrs. Duck on a morning outing at Lilburn Greenway Park, where I walked Saturday morning with friend Laura and her two dogs.  I wish you could see the glory of Mr. Duck's teal head.  (Click to enlarge.)  It was unusual to see ducks near the entrance to the park - all we could think is that they had been investigating the new drainage ditch there.

- Passersby were chuckling at my attempt to photograph Macintosh and Scout (on the right), who would never stay still.  Since Scout is still a puppy, Laura is trying to teach her not to go crazy when others approach, by getting her to sit before getting a treat.

- It kind of worked, but not really.  :)

- And when I got home, neighbor Rhonda had brought home these beauties to plant in our common flower beds.   I am thankful for a neighbor with a green thumb.  I re-potted a plant on the back porch - that's about it so far.  :)  How I do love spring!

And on Sunday, I was delighted to see my first hummingbird of the season at the feeder!  

All done up, 10 o'clock a.m., and astounding

- Friend Janice and I encountered this festooned turtle at Lilburn City Park, near home, last Saturday on an early morning walk.  It must have been in honor of PAWfest, in which canine friends and their owners commemorate "Be Kind to Animals" week.  Many (leashed) dogs were milling around at the park entrance when we emerged at the end of our walk.  It looked like a canine cocktail party!

- Back home - I always wish I could freeze 10 o'clock a.m.  The sun pours through the window and splashes onto the kitchen floor.  I got a tray of airplane plants at a garden club plant sale a few weeks ago and put two of them in this pot that came from my parents' home (I think.)  The new plant loves the windowsill there with the fake lavender. :)

 - There was a mishap with my old bird feeder, and sadly, it had to go.  I was really sad, because my late father gave it to me a few years ago, and there was sentimental attachment to it.  I was going to get a new one, but hadn't yet, when much to my surprise, my sister walked in with the one pictured above, the day she and my niece arrived for their visit.  It belonged to our late mother and hung outside her window at the assisted living facility where she lived in Thomasville, Georgia.  How about that?  I had not told my sister of the mishap with the old feeder - she was just going through things and thought I would like it.  I do like it and so do the goldfinches.  (Click to enlarge - photo taken from a distance inside so as not to scare them away.)

Saturday morning, loving that cookie and customer service

On an overcast, very cloudy, routine-trip-to-the-hardware-store kind of Saturday, it was lovely to see that someone loves someone else enough to write, "I LOVE YOU!" on their truck.  Click to enlarge.

- The hardware store is in a makeshift storefront space in a strip shopping center across the street from its stand-alone location (in that clearing between the trees beyond the truck).  It burned to the ground at the end of December last year and had been known as the largest Ace Hardware store in the country.  The owners of the store have taken care of employees and it is wonderful to see them all working in this new temporary location, while they contemplate rebuilding.

- At the grocery store nearby (Publix), a smiling worker in the bakery area gives a cookie to an earnest looking little boy, who is shopping with his father.  He trails around behind his father, eating it slowly, savoring every bite.

- Another smiling worker, this time in the produce department, observes me frowning at the cilantro.  It doesn't smell like cilantro to me, I tell her.  She scurries to the back to see if there's any more.  There isn't.  I buy it anyway and wave off her apologies.  It's lovely to see people who care about customers.