Springtime In Atlanta

It's springtime in Atlanta.  Temperatures are climbing back up from their mild winter lows and yellow pollen is already starting to leave a allergenic layer over everything outdoors.  My azaleas, the shortest blooming bushes in the neighborhood, are coming out.  The pink flowers have blossomed first and I'm still waiting on the whites.  

For some reason, my azaleas only bloom for about a week or two before the flowers fall, while my neighbors' bushes all bloom for far longer.  I don't know why mine fade so fast - I suspect the ubiquitous shade in my yard may have something to do with it.  But the lesson here is to appreciate the flowers for the short time that they provide a splash of color outside my kitchen window, before everything turns all green for the duration of the summer.

Another sign of spring - creeper vines invade my front porch.  Every year they try to get a grip on the top rail, and every year they fall off before May Day.  You have to admire their tenacity, though.

Eliot relaxing and taking in the pleasant springtime temperatures.  His big excitement on this St. Patrick's morning was finding a carpenter bee by my living room window.  He swatted the bee to the floor and I placed a drinking glass over it, capturing it inside, and Eliot was highly entertained watching it buzz around inside the glass before I finally released it back outdoors.

Oh noes!  Fire trucks enter the neighborhood and interrupt my vernal revelry.  They stop in front of one of the most attractive houses on the block, the home of a very nice and kind neighbor.  The house is obviously not on fire, so I worry that there's been a medical emergency.

The firemen walk around the house a bit but fortunately bring no one out on a stretcher.  After a few minutes, they get back in their fire truck and drive off again.  A little while later, I see the very nice resident outside reassuring his neighbors that he was fine.  No neighbors were harmed in the posting of this entry.