thawing flowering walking

This afternoon I took a little walk to the post office box. I was glad the walks were cleared and the sun was shinning. I wanted to test my stamina after this respiratory distress I have been experiencing to see if it was completely gone now. Answer is not quite gone all the way but maybe I was just run down from laying about the house for so long. I sure feel a lot better than I did. I enjoyed a short walk and took a few photos to make a memory of the thaw as it seems to be warm enough to melt the snow. 

alley melt water runs down the middle

tip toe over the flow

beautiful patterns in the pavement under melt water

some of our trees want to be shrubs in Turkey Thicket

To begin my walking I went out back with a bag of plastics to the recycling bins. While I was looking at the yard it was revealed the Hellebore is blooming, even under the snow. This is the first flower in our garden this year. It was kind of exciting to see those white flowers coming out to greet me. Next will be some green ones in the front yard I hope.

hellebore blooms in winter, in our garden these are the  first flowers of 2011

Inside we have these great parrot tulips that were grown in Virginia by some new local grower. Most tulips are imported from Holland and this time of year they make getting up a joy to see how much they have grown in their vase and how they will look when they open up if they do open, some don't. I am having a great time drawing and water coloring this batch.

parrot tulips opening

nice shades of lavender pink white and green 

I wonder if tulips will be a subject for a new etching.