Random Spring Post w/ a bit of the by-gone days!

The weather is nice, the sun is shining, the grass is growing, the birds are chirping, and...

The Dogwoods are Blooming!

The Dogwood is the state flower of both Virginia and North Carolina. Though I feel like they do not care about it so much in North Carolina, but in Virginia they were a big deal. At mine and Levi's first house we had a HUGE Dogwood. But for some reason the previous owners planted a blooming pear tree right in front of it that always obscured the view of it. When Hurricaine Isabelle came in, the pear tree got taken out, but the dogwood was still standing. It really was the biggest one I had ever seen! I think it must have already been thriving in the woods when they built the neighborhood and they never cut it down, and when it got more light it just shot up.

Now... Dogwoods are usually not very large. I mean they can be, but very few are. They often grow in or at the edge of the woods and they are a pretty little accessory to the landscape, but they really do not get but so big...

But... ours was HUGE...

or at least I remembered it being huge!

I went to Williamsburg for a day this past weekend for a business trip. I was meeting a friend at a restaraunt and got talking to another lady waiting outside. She commented about how beautiful the Dogwoods looked this time of year. I told her about my Dogwood and how it was rather large. She commented that Dogwoods don't usually get very big. I pointed to a good size tree down the road and told her it was about the size of that tree, to which she insisted Dogwoods don't get very big and if it was in fact that big that was quite impressive. I still think she did not believe me.

So, the next day before leaving town I drove past our old house and took a picture. And sure enough, there it was... the impressive huge Dogwood! I had not lost my mind!

It was nice to see my old house, but I was slightly meloncholy parked there picturing Nolan toddling across the front yard, taking pictures of Lettie in the grass on her blessing day, Nolan standing at the front door watching the trucks remove storm debris in his footie PJs hoding bear by the leg, walking over to see Bo and Peep, swinging on the swing with Levi... I could go on and on! That was the house where our family began. It will always have a special place in my heart!