It was so nice to have the sun shinning this last weekend, and although it's chilly today, it's just setting us up for another gorgeous weekend. Spring is so much more enjoyable when there is a mix of warm and cool days, because you get this burst of bloom, and then with the cool temperatures, the flowers last longer and the colors seem to be more vivid.

Right now the magnolias are really spectacular. They have always been one of my favorite flowering trees, because they are so full of flowers and so fragrant. We are lucky this year, because so often we seem to have a warm spell that pushes the magnolias to open, and then a frost that burns them. No frost in the foreseeable future, so it's going to be a fantastic magnolia year. And I bet this next spell of warm weather pushes the cherry trees into bloom.

 One of my favorite times is at the end of the cherry tree flowering, when the petals start to fall.  If it's sunny and not too windy, you get a beautiful carpet of pink on the ground beneath the trees. It only seems to last for a day, but its one of the special moments of the year.

My husband and I have been taking walks in the evenings at different parks around our home. Last Saturday we went to Carroll County's, Piney Run Park and walked the lake trail. Today my friend and I started our morning walks before work. For me, walking is the best form of exercise plus I get to enjoy all the changes of nature while I am at it. I hope that you get a chance to get outdoors this weekend, see the magnolias and cherries, and just enjoy being alive.