This Birdy has finally "got it" when it comes to the power of flowers. I always loved fresh-cut blooms and bouquets but they were never a thing I sought out, as they felt like such a short-lived gift. Flowers fade, the blooms wilt, and you're left with something that needs to be cleaned up and swept away. But over the last few years, I finally appreciate the gift that fresh flowers bring to a household. It's a bit of colorful light and life that suddenly makes a room pleasant, and it's definitely a gift worth giving to others, as it's the thing we so rarely treat ourselves with.

It's been a record chill factor this April, meaning the annual Tulip Festival up north, in the Skagit County area, has been a little slow to get moving, but as they say -- better late than never! This Bird was able to J'adore the tulips on the second to last weekend of the official festival, so I snapped a few pics of the rows full of bright colors. Even more impressive were the entire fields of a single flower, like the daffodils, which just appear like a giant block of bright yellow from a distance. It's like nothing you've ever seen and it amazes you every time.

I was able to take a few bright bulbs home in the form of a pretty bouquet, thanks to a good friend who took me out there on a blustery Sunday morning. The grey skies were no match for the pretty flowers, though. Even with the cold, how can the world be wrong when you've got fields and fields of tulips before you?

Jaunty Fine Print:  photos by Denise Sakaki