Reston Farm Market

I always look forward to Saturday mornings at the Reston Farm Market. This was my first visit in 2009. Yum! I brought a bag, some cash, my neighbor Ruth Ann, and my camera.

Can you believe these tomatoes? Yes, it's too early in the season for the homegrown fruit that I'll make Gazpacho out of, Bob's all time favorite soup. I think these are hot house tomatoes but grown locally. Can you see my faint ©susanbagshaw watermark on the photo? This was my first experiment using Photoshop Elements to protect my images.

Even though we try to get to the market early, we walked the dogs for an hour first and so we encountered some of the crowds. Colorful. All ages. Mellow. These people are snacking on the samples the vendors put out to tempt us...

I like these little cucumbers. But mostly I liked the blue plate, the design of the circles, and the texture of the sprinkled salt. Makes your mouth water, doesn't it?

I think there are signs that say "No dogs allowed" but that couldn't apply to little Mabel. She was adorable! She has her own view of the market among all the legs and feet surrounding her.

I think this lady tasted the cucumbers in the dish and decided she needed to bring some home.

The onions in the grocery store never look as fresh and juicy as these do. I can smell them just looking at this photograph.

I didn't buy any plants this time but every Saturday there are annuals and perennials and cut flowers. Very fresh and healthy.

These were the first strawberries that I saw at the market and after sniffing around all of the stalls I came back and bought these. They smell heavenly. The color was amazing. Wonderful on our cereal this morning.

Cherry Blossoms

Spring is glorious in Washington D.C. Regardless of what kind of winter we've had, cold and rainy,  blustery and snowy, or just long and dreary we ache for the warmth, the green, the possibilities and hope of springtime. Just like predictions for presidential elections, Washingtonian's follow forecasts of when our cherry blossoms will bloom.  The Yoshino cherry blossoms peak bloom at different times due to the weather. The cherry blossom festival even has it's own website. Imagine that!

The trees were a gift of friendship to the United States from the people of Japan in 1912. The blossom is a symbol equated with the transience of human life and epitomizes the transformations the Japanese culture has undergone through the ages.

A month ago, Bob and I went downtown to take pictures of the blossoms. I loved roaming around with my camera like a tourist instead of a Washington native. I've been busy. The days have flown by. Today I decided it was better to post them as they are.  Summer is around the corner.

We walked around the tidal basin and shot a few pictures of the Jefferson Memorial. It was early in the morning and already there were dozens of people crowding the sidewalks. The blossoms peak for only a few days and then litter the ground with their petals.
The hardest thing about posting to the blog is deciding which photos to include. I post less than a tenth of the pictures I shoot. Which are more interesting? Do they tell a story?

Who could resist a shot of the Washington Monument? It's practically a tradition. We reminisced about the days when you could climb the stairs to the top.

Can you see the other photographers and tourists lining the pathway along the left side of the image? We worked hard not to take pictures of each other!

The trees are green now. These photographs will remind me of the fleeting moments of delicate blossoms until next year.