2013: AN EARLY MAY WALK IN THE PARK

Here we are, 2013 and time to anticipate another summer season on Long Island, bookended by spring and fall.  It's been a rough winter ushered in by Super Storm Sandy last November.  Although the South Shore along all of Long Island was hit the hardest, we here on the North Shore had a lot of damage, as well.  We lost an amazing number of trees and had severe and lengthy power outages.  The trucks have only recently finished grinding them up in the area.  Then, as if Mother Nature hadn't given us enough of her mischief, that storm was followed by the deepest blizzard we've seen in 46 years.  There were more power outages, never before seen drifting, and 36 inches of snow in parts of LI, ours being one of them.  Believe me, we folks around here are really ready for spring this year!  And, a beautiful one it's been so far, with endless sunny days, deep blue skies and warm temperatures with cool breezes.

This week, on May Day, I headed to my all time favorite park and it's surrounding areas to try to capture some of nature's early spring finery.  So, here I'll share a few pictures of the beauty I saw, and if you scroll down to the very bottom of this post there's a short video that captures the sounds of spring, as well...

 Yes, welcome!

Just a taste of spring color at the back entrance to the wooded section of the park.

 Even the weeds were spectacular, although these just may be some sort of wildflower, I suppose.

The beginning of spring around Melville Park's beautiful lake

What a lovely place to soak up some long awaited sunshine!

 Such Abundance.

Many years ago I stood under that very tree and looked up towards the sky.  I was so captivated by it's fragrance and beauty that I snapped a photo and went home to paint what I'd seen.

 I seem to be tree identification challenged this year.  If anyone knows exactly what type of fruit tree this is (apple?), I'd love for you to identify it for me in the "comments" area at the bottom of today's post.  Thanks in advance.   :-)  

Just love this spring green color!

 This speaks for itself, I think.

 Early window box plantings

 The quaint pathway into the wooded area

 A sad remnant of Super Storm Sandy.  The park itself lost many, many trees.   :-(

 Another wonderful place to sit, rest a bit and contemplate the summer of 2013's arrival.

 Even though it's a blurry photo I couldn't leave out a picture of this happy daffodil.  (My apologies to the better photographers out there.)

 The dogwoods are just beginning to pop.

 This one's pretty far along, but I'm sure it will be even prettier next week.

 Even the weeds were showing off!  These dandelion seeds looked like luminescent silver and were positively glowing.  And, with that I headed out of the park and towards one of our local harbors.

 In the distant water just left of center are two clam boats.  They, and the green row boat, are a sure sign of early spring here in Setauket Harbor.  Although, the clammers have probably been out for several months already.  They are hardy men!

 I'm a sucker for a pretty farm stand in spring time.  As you can see our local one is all perched and ready for Mother's Day customers.

Pretty!

 On my way home I had to stop to photograph these beautiful hybrid Tulips that are planted here every year.  As always, they were amazing.

 This is a far cry from the classic 6 petal variety!

 Not that I don't have a soft spot in my heart for classics, too.  I surely do and painted the above "Tulip Riot" painting many years ago when I was inspired by someone's spring garden.

And, of course no spring drive would be complete without a stop at Stony Brook Village.

You can hear the sounds of spring birds here at the Melville Park Lake in this video.  So, turn up your volume if you've a mind to and enjoy!

As always, thank you for looking in.  I hope you've enjoyed this taste of May Day on Long Island, especially my friends and family who have moved away from the Northeast.  With love from me to you...