Spring Is Springing

Spring is nearly here...we haven't had that one glorious day yet when the sun is out in full force, people are out in full force and the city hums with the promise of warm, sweater free days...Mother Nature seems to be taking baby steps this year.  The bone chilling temperatures are seemingly a thing of the past, but the sun is not out on any regular basis and there still isn't anything green at the farmers market...I can't take the potatoes anymore!

But this past Saturday in Union Square there was a glimmer of hope.  Flowers flowers everywhere!

Loads of tulips:

And daffodils...

...I'm less excited about the pussywillows, which have been around for a bit and I'm hoping are on their way out.

I adore the magnolia boughs and came quite close to buying a bunch (only $10!) but thought they might compete a bit too aggressively with all of our giant plants (and the giant pile of detritus on the table on which they would have sat), plus I didn't feel like carrying them around during the rest of my errands.

Instead, I settled on some beautiful pink tulips...only $5!

Arranged...

And sitting happily on my bathroom sink.

I love flowers in my bathroom.  I made a habit of keeping a bouquet there this past summer (the last time the farmers market had flowers, I suppose) but fell off the wagon when the weather got cold.  Somehow New York seems to be lacking a mid-priced florist.  It is either bodega flowers or $100 bouquets, nothing in between.  My experience with flowers at various gourmet food shops was also highly disappointing, so I gave up on the whole thing, since my efforts brought more stress than pleasure after a certain point.

But now we're back to happier times!

I love the unexpected punch of color you get from a small grouping of blossoms on an otherwise dull, standard rental apartment countertop.  There is something about paying attention to oft-forgotten spaces (we are generally at our least dignified in the bathroom after all, which perhaps makes us want to ignore it) that makes life inordinately more beautiful.  And life really is so much better when it is beautiful, no?