Believe it or not, we are already into the second half of May.  How did that happen?  I love this time of year though, when summer is yet to come, and it feels that once it starts it will be never ending.  However, of course, it never is.

We spent this past Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.  I took some photos of the gardens, not too many this year, but enough to show you what it looks like in May 2017.

We’ve been here in past years during mid May and have seen all of the cherry blossoms  in bloom.  Not so this year, only one tree left in bloom, and we found it in the Japanese Garden.

I LOVE flowers and the endless colors they produce, but there is something about the Japanese Garden that appeals to me… a lot; its simplicity and calmness speak to me.  When I was younger, I never found this understated and mostly green garden very interesting at all.  But now, this is the place where I would sit and knit all day long; I love it that much.  If you’d like to read more about this garden here is the link to its page on their website.

Azaleas, azaleas, azaleas!

And here are a few photos from elsewhere at the Botanic Gardens.  Subtle shade difference in flowers get me every time.  These are lupines in a multitude of pinks.

Be still my heart… lily-of-the-valley, love, love, love!  Oh how I wanted to pick one, but I resisted.  I did spend quite a while here repeatedly bending down to inhale their sweet scent though.  Anyone else have a lily-of-the-valley scented Little Kiddle doll?

The English Oak Meadow hillside is awash with California poppies.

We had a lovely (and sunny) Mother’s Day together.  In the afternoon we visited a local nursery and picked up a few hanging baskets for the front porch, then made dinner at home.  It was a wonderful weekend, indeed!

I hope yours was wonderful too!

A happy belated Mother’s Day to all of you moms. ❤