Dear Teach: Pastels everywhere---can you name that blossom?

Hi Boys and Girls,

Well, if you haven't noticed, look around you. Spring is here and it is teeming with a blast of color. Beautiful pastels! They are everywhere. 

These flowering trees put a smile on your face. Besides the fact they help us welcome Spring, just looking at them brings joy and inner peace. 

Future days will be warmer and many more trees will green and others will burst into vivid hues. 

But trees that are blossoming now, in these first few weeks of April are very special indeed. They may be timid, or fierce and bold for they bare the all too unsure condition of, "Is it safe yet, will there be an unexpected frost to wilt our blossoms?" 

Regardless, and as if on cue these magnificent trees bravely open their buds one-by-one, petal by petal for all to see their spectacular display and smell their intoxicating scents!  

But that isn't all, if you stand quietly beneath anyone of these trees not only will you be swallowed up in the sweetness of their aroma, but you will hear the frenzy of busy bees humming in pure delight. 

Now don't move or disturb them, just observe them. These little miracles of nature bring pollen to and from one flowering plant to another and are the gardeners of our fields and plants. 

Tip your head back and look up at the sturdy tree trunk and its graceful limbs which hold hundreds of bouquets of flowers. 

By now we've used most all our senses, well almost except for touch. No need to, unless you have planted trees or bushes for the purpose of cutting and bringing their flowerets indoors.

And, sooner or later you may have spotted or wondered, "Now what is that beautiful flowering tree," or "what's that yellow bush I see everywhere?"

You may not be a budding arboriculturist [no pun intended], but it doesn't mean you shouldn't know the names of the native trees that adorn the North Eastern part of the United States each spring. 

Knowing a few names of trees and what their flowering parts look like may well provide you with a few details to support you and your writing. It'll give your sentences a flair!

So without further adieu, can you guess the names of the flowering images below?

Here's a few to consider:

Forthysia bush with elongated woody stems

Because these grow so prolifically, homeowners will clip a few of their long stems and bring them indoors for a splash of Spring color.

Look closely here, you'll see a perfectly formed star. What tree do these blossoms belong to?

White with ever-so-light pink edges

Strong graceful limbs

Blossoms against green and white clouds

Seemingly, giant cottonballs against blue sky

Have you seen these?

It is the Glorious Cherry Blossom tree!

Deep pink Japanese Cherry Blossoms

Japanese Cherry Blossom tree, one of the first to blossom

Saucer Magnolia bud begins to unfold, 
resembling a large saucer when fully opened

Large Magnolia tree buds waiting to burst

Flowering Magnolia's filament

Magnolias opening up

Stella Magnolia Blossom

Small Stella Magnolia Bush 

Have you seen these?

Here's a close up of these amazing blossoms.

Weeping Cherry tree,
resemble pink clusters of cotton candy!

These are everywhere one looks!

Have you seen them?

They often line the downtown streets
 casting a canopy of whitish greenish hues...
the outstanding and exquisite Pear tree!

So what's blooming in your back yard?

Be well kids!

The Teach

Dear Teach: What's in a Day?

Hi Boys and Girls,

Well, I hope over the previous month you have all been very busy and happy. It is now March! When you step outside, quietly breath the air, hold your eyes shut, yes, and breath again but much deeper. What do you notice? There's a sweet smell all around you. Keep that aroma in your memory. It holds a promise of all the good things that are out there waiting to be discovered--- by you--maybe you are now a year older and wiser--still-- there is much to see and consider.

When you stop and think about it, there is much within a day, let alone in a month's time. Probably if you stop and begin to count, there would be millions of things in a single day that you see, you hear, you think, you wonder about; some you worry about, others you are overjoyed with: things and scents and surprises and objects and people and words, and well, you can fill in the rest.

One time, I was walking and noticed something, and here it is, look below. What do you see? You
have to look very, very closely. Do you see it yet?

(C) 2012JMW

Look one more time.

When I first noticed it, I stopped, and thought, "Wait, what is that?" It looked like the head of a duck, or maybe a goose carved into the base of the oak tree. Wow I thought! How ever did it get there? It must be an anomaly, an unusual happening. So here it was. The tree surrounded between asphalt and concrete somehow grew and grew, and in the process a part of itself emerged in the form of another living thing. And that I believed was a simple gift given to any passerby who happened to take notice-- it put a smile on my face, but it was only one tiny part of the adventure.

Now there are those out there that may say, "Hold on now, that is impossible, someone carved it on purpose."

To which I say, you really don't know, unless you actually saw the structure pre and post, or felt the shape, and even then, there is no way of telling unless you "witnessed" the work unfolding.

For me, I choose to believe it was a work of nature, for after all many shapes and anomalies arise from simple structures.

And that is simply just one idea that keeps life interesting---the mystery of it all---happy hunting!

The next image just caught my attention because of the small insect that was perfectly matched to the flower's colors, a wonderful example of camouflage.

(C)2012JMW

What can you see, or find that is most unexpected? I bet there are tons of things waiting just for you.
So on one of these wonderful spring mornings, look around and send me an image of something that for the first time grabbed your attention.

One last note, in my next blog posting, check out a great technique I just discovered for creating the above image [it is a collection of words from the first paragraph found in this blog]!

Happy Spring!

Be Well Kids,


The Teach