Easter Afternoon Stroll in the Botanical Gardens

This is a bit belated. I started on it Easter Sunday, then had issues uploading photos, then this happened, so here it finally is.

Anyway, it seemed like an Easter thing to do, don a flowery sundress and meander through the myriad outdoor "rooms" of the local botanical gardens.

My first and favorite destination is the Aquatic Garden, with its koi pond and giant amazon lily pads. At first glance, I thought there was some construction underway, as they had the entrance taped off to the little round patio overlooking the water:

I almost moved on to the next display, but something caught my eye and I took a closer look at that planter on the right:

And a little closer:

See all the fluffy feathers underneath her? She's about to have a bunch of lil' fuzzy buddies waddling around behind her.
Awww.

Vacations and Returns

Since I work in a school I had a few days off for spring break. The weather was going to be crummy here, but not at the beach. We headed down for a few days in the sun and warmth, and it was everything we wanted and more.

Wednesday Night:

Monday Morning:

It was worth every minute.

A Little Excitement

Firefighters were called out to where we work this morning. They're still investigating what caused it so I won't say a whole lot, except that B. is a hero for alerting us to call the F.D., tearing an extinguisher off the wall (which he fortunately just happened to have hung there the day before), and helping get it put out even before they got there. The article that showed up in the news within hours of the incident gave the firemen all the credit. Oh well, they earn it.

The fire chief came back later in the day with some of his crew to give a little talk on fire safety for the kids.

Firemen: "You're probably sick of seeing us today."

Me: "Since when are firemen hard to look at?"

I mean, really.

B. wanted to be a firefighter for several years but I wouldn't let him. A 20-something widow wasn't really on my short list of career moves. Now that I'm a 30-something, that hasn't necessarily changed, but I do think he'd be a really good firefighter. He's so alert and aware of his surroundings, so decisive and quick on his feet. They've come a long way with the gear and technology they employ to keep the guys safe out there. And I have come to embody the sterotypical female swoon in the presence of the uniform. What does it mean?

The alarms continued for a while as they tried to get the system reset, then our power went out. It was one of those days when you just wanna go home and have a drink (which we did). I am SO ready for Spring Break. For the first time in forever we are making some plans to get outta town and do something fun. I will never catch up on work after those few days off, but after days like today I won't anyway, so at this point, what's the difference? We're goin' to the beach!