Finally, finally, Spring seems to be in full control, five weeks in to the official season.   We’ve enjoyed weather in the 70’s for two days in a row, and today we spent the afternoon in Riverside Park which is currently awash with flowering trees.   Central Park gets all the good press, but Riverside is more beautiful in the Spring.

Today is also Ulysses S. Grant’s birthday, and his tomb is in Riverside Park.  Friends of ours went to see the ‘festivities’, which turned out to be a re-enactment of his funeral  (odd choice for a birthday celebration) and the presentation of several wreaths for his tomb.   One of these wreaths was supposed to be from President Obama.  My friend went up to it at the end to get a closer look and found that the flowers were plastic.   She said her two boys sat on a wall overlooking the area and marveled at the groups of bored schoolchildren.    Poor Grant – plastic flowers and a fake funeral in honor of his birthday, attended by a bunch of bored school kids and two unschoolers who were fascinated, but for all the wrong reasons.

At least he had good weather.   Today I was all thanks – thanks for Spring, thanks for my healthy and happy kids and thanks, even, for the sunburn I got on my arms and neck.  SUNBURN!   The sun hasn’t been strong enough to burn anything around here in what seems like eons.    The trees are suddenly bursting with leaves and flowers and people were smiling at strangers on the street today, sharing looks that said, “I know!  Isn’t it great?  We don’t even need jackets!”

So thank you, earth, for finally bringing us Spring.   Happy Birthday to Ulysses S. Grant, and can someone please pass me the aloe vera?  I need it for my sunburn…

These smelled even better than they looked!

Riverside Park at 79th St.

Entrance to River Run where we spend our Wednesday afternoons