Spring ...

SCraig · Mar 17, 2012

Tennessee didn't have much of a winter this year as far as cold weather goes, but the cold bothers me less than the lack of color. By January I'm always very tired of looking at brown trees and gray skies and start to look forward to the trees beginning to bud out and color returning.

Feel free to add your own. What does it look like in other parts of the country?

jriepe · Mar 17, 2012

Nice colorful shots. I'll be in Tennessee the week of March 25th and I know things have to be more colorful there than here but we have been having some super nice days and the lawns are greening up nicely. Our winter was very mild also. I am so looking forward to moving down there in a couple years after my daughter graduates from high school.

Jerry

jaicatalano · Mar 17, 2012

NYC didn't see one either. Global warming is scary.

SCraig · Mar 17, 2012

It has been an odd winter all over the country. I have friends in Phoenix and they usually give me a hard time about how much nicer the winters are there. I usually fly out and visit them in February but didn't see any reason this year since it was as warm here as there

JRiepe, what part of Tennessee are you headed for?

2WheelPhoto · Mar 17, 2012

jaicatalano said:
NYC didn't see one either. Global warming is scary.

About as scary as the extreme global freezing over the past few winters

jriepe · Mar 17, 2012

SCraig said:
It has been an odd winter all over the country. I have friends in Phoenix and they usually give me a hard time about how much nicer the winters are there. I usually fly out and visit them in February but didn't see any reason this year since it was as warm here as there

JRiepe, what part of Tennessee are you headed for?

I'm going to check out what is called the overhill country. Some towns I'll be checking out is Chattanooga, Cleveland, Sweetwater, Maryville, etc. The area between Chattanooga and Knoxville and south of I75. A friend of mine is planning to move to the Nashville area this year. Gotta get a house with a basement because the danger of tornadoes is more likely there than where I'm presently at.

Jerry

SCraig · Mar 18, 2012

That's beautiful contry over there. Right at the foot of the Smoky Mountains it is really pretty. The only problem is that in the summer much of it is literally beseiged with tourists. Can't get a seat in a restaurant, traffic is terrible, and so forth. I've ridden my motorcycles all over that part of the state though, and I really love it over there.

Finding a basement house won't be a problem. Most of them in this area have full basements, and to the east it's even more prominent, since that's the only way to build them. The lots slope so steeply that it takes a lot of foundation wall just to make the living floor level so the builder might as well include a basement. Cutting grass on them can be a real chore though.

PixelRabbit · Mar 18, 2012

I'm so with you Scott! I'm so over drab colours and bits of snow.
But.....
Today.... ONE flower bloomed in the garden! YAY PURPLE!
My first flower shot .... of the first flower to bloom in our garden... the first spring in our new home

Very first flower in the garden. by Judi Smelko, on Flickr

Joel_W · Mar 18, 2012

It's so comforting to see colorful spring flower once again. Going to get out myself on Tuesday to see what's out there.

SCraig · Mar 18, 2012

It is nice to see ... but it's just plain wrong to. I've seen snow here in March in years past and Wednesday it is forecast to be 90 degrees here. Our so-called "Average" is 62 for today. As I mentioned above I've got friends in Phoenix and the temperature there this week is forecast to be about 30 degrees LOWER than here in Tennessee. The bugs are already bad to since it wasn't cold enough over the winter to kill them off. It's gonna be a long summer ;(

Judi, I guess you and I are the only ones taking shots of this fantastic weather since we're the only ones posting anything. Here's another one showing one of the harbingers of spring around here: Sir Robin of Redbreast

Joel_W · Mar 18, 2012

Scott, that's one nice Robin picture. I too have been taking pictures weekly, mostly Pigeons, Ducks, Geese, and Seagulls outside, and macro florals inside of Green houses, but this week I'm going to start walking around one of my favorite Arboretums looking for spring bulbs that have started to bloom. While it's been more like mid spring, mother nature really hasn't pushed the envelope yet here on the Island. Winter Greys and Browns are still dominant.

SCraig · Mar 18, 2012

Thanks, Joel. That was shot at a park here in Nashville. The birds get fed a lot so he wasn't real afraid of me so I shot that from 15 feet away

I wondered what it was like up north right now. I know that on one of the motorcycle forums I frequent the northern guys have been getting their bikes out of hibernation for the past several weeks. I didn't know whether things were starting to "Green Up" there or not. This is unseasonably early for us, we are probably 3 weeks ahead of normal. I'm not complaining yet, I'll save that for late summer.

Looking forward to some shots from up that way.

Joel_W · Mar 18, 2012

Scott, same up here. It's warm, and the bike guys are riding like it's mid spring. but like I said, outside of the Dafodills and some Crocuses, it still looks like winter.

jriepe · Mar 19, 2012

Scott,

I have twice tried to send you a PM thanking you for the link to your Tennessee images but each time I get a message an error has occurred. THANK YOU and hopefully you will see this. Don't know if there is something wrong with the site or if my head is not screwed on straight this morning.

Jerry

PixelRabbit · Mar 19, 2012

Nice capture on the Robin Scott

We would definitely be out on the bikes already if our road wasn't a mudpit, the land is really saturated right now.
There are small pops of colour here but not much yet. We are waiting (im)patiently for the front gardens to bloom, lots of flowers still wrapped in green waiting for the right moment to emerge.

Front garden before bloom by Judi Smelko, on Flickr

Fountain Garden before bloom by Judi Smelko, on Flickr

This is our first year growing here. This is the garden weeded and burned (sorry about the blah colours lol), ready to be turned hopefully today! Still have to prep the greenhouse, busy busy busy!

Garden weeded and burned ready to be turned. by Judi Smelko, on Flickr