White, violet and gold

I’m officially back to my weekly sunset shootings, at least as often as the weather permits. I don’t know if it’s ash or what, but lately there’s a thick gray cloud on the horizon that never really goes away. I guess the spring winds and all the ash that fell this winter aren’t the best combination. They make for some pretty amazing skies sometimes, though. It’s like the sun has a permanent filter in front of it, and as you will see when I finally get to edit the pictures, when it’s not too thick it makes the sky look amazing.

I’ve been doing a lot of things lately. The coolest one is that I’m taking driving lessons. I’ve been putting it off since I was seventeen (gee, I feel old saying that), mostly because I’m a terrible klutz and driving is such a huge responsibility. But now that I’m graduating and I’ve only sketchy ideas of what I’m going to do with my life, I think it’s necessary. And while I have the chance, I want to say you people who drive automatic cars have it too easy. Try learning to drive a manual one. From scratch. Oh well, at least it’s fun, and since I went trough my first lesson without crashing, and I actually drove myself home (with help from my instructor, of course), I feel pretty accomplished, and I’m looking forward to my next lesson.

My mother’s scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning. I’m not sure if the results will be immediate or we’ll have to wait, but we’ll finally know if this whole thing is over. I sure hope it is.

Sunset photos coming soon. For now, enjoy my crocuses :).

Crocuses in the sunset light

I’ve been taking a lot of pictures lately, and I’m happy about that. I really missed being out with my camera. I haven’t had a chance to go down to the beach to capture a sunset yet (stuff always seems to be getting on the way), but I don’t give up hope that it’ll happen soon.

Mostly I’ve been shooting the bulbs I planted this autumn, which have now turned into budding plants with lovely flowers. The crocuses aren’t flowering anymore, but I still had some shots that I hadn’t had time to go through. The tulips are blooming just now, and I’m thrilled. They’ve been my favorite flowers since I first saw one, in pictures. They’re not very common here, so growing tulips in my garden is an adventure for me.

I’ve also learnt a lesson from my bulbs, one that may seem obvious but comes at the best time possible to help me heal: bulbs may look ugly and not promising when you plant them under the soil, but eventually they become the loveliest flowers in the world. So even when the things that happen around us seem unnecessarily painful and ugly, I want to believe they’ll eventually evolve into something beautiful.

I hope you like these! There are more photos to come from my lovely plants!

Blossoming happiness

I thank my lucky stars for all the wonderful people I’ve met since I started this blog. The kind words of support and good wishes you left in my previous post have made me feel so much better. There’s light in the world, we just have to focus on it.

That’s what I’ve been doing these past days, paying attention to nature as it grows and unfolds around me. My crocus plants went from the brown bulbs I planted in the autumn to tiny sprouts to the blossoming plants they’re now. I love opening my front door every day and seeing these flowers in my potted garden. My tulips are growing, too, and I just can’t wait for them to have flowers.

I taught my first official class as a high school teacher on Wednesday, and it was a great experience. I was lucky enough to get to teach science fiction, which is my favorite genre and doesn’t fail to enrapture teenagers. All the kids participated, asked and answered questions, shared their ideas – it was the kind of class I’ve always imagined myself since I decided to pursue this career.

I hope you like these pictures, you’ll be seeing some more of my crocuses in future posts :).