Believe It or Not, I Think Spring is Here!

Today the day started cloudy, foggy, and a bit cold. However, this past weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to see that, as early it might seem to my friends in other states, spring has arrived to San Francisco and probably to many of the other towns in coastal California!

Last week was sunny and warm, in the 60s most days. On the days that I didn’t have to go into work, I spent long periods of time at the park by my house, soaking up the sun, chatting with neighbors, and watching Bomber and all the other dogs play, happily under the sun.

On my walks with Bomber, I started noticing more and more color in bushes and trees and, this past weekend, as Joe and I went for long walks, I realized that all that color, all those flowers, all those blooms, could only mean one thing: spring was on its way in, and winter was on its way out.

We walked around the city, and through many parks, and we saw flowers of all colors: purple, yellow, pink, blue and orange. I actually saw the first poppy on a hill that soon will be covered in orange during the daytime.

We also saw blooms we had never seen before.  After a close look at some of them, we realized that they were just blooms in bushes and that they would not be turning into colorful flowers. Their only purpose, probably, is to allow the plant to reproduce… I’m not sure though, but that’s a pretty good guess! Isn’t spring all about creating new life?

Our walk took us all the way down to the bay. It’s always very fun to realize how close to the water we live!  But before we got there, we walked on some pedestrian-only paths (yes, a big city like this still has tons of pedestrian-only paths around!) and got to see the Hyde cable car going up Hyde Street. On the background, some amazing mansions framed the photo beautifully!

As we walked on the fields by the water, we saw a violin player, playing his violin standing by a red brick wall. The music was beautiful and the scene was just perfect. Unfortunately, I can still be a bit shy when it comes to photographing people, so I only snapped one or two photos of him. I still think I got a pretty good one and I think I’m getting better at just snapping the shot without being too shy!

On the way back we walked by a very small park on Russian Hill. We saw there were lots of people in it, which is strange because it tends to be completely empty. We approached the park and saw what was causing such congregation of people. It was the parrots of Telegraph Hill! They had landed on some trees and were eating the small fruits growing on them. As they did that, they provided a great opportunity for people to capture them with their cameras.

We love the parrots! I love hearing them make noise as the fly around the city, and I especially love it when I get to see them up close.

I immediately changed the lens in my camera and stepped into the park. Joe and Bomber stayed outside because dogs are not allowed in this park, but both of them were kept good company by some ladies walking by who wanted to pet our dog.  Inside, I snapped some shots, admired the awesomely bright green and red parrots and then rejoined the gang.

After about 3 hours of walking around, we started making our way back home. This was just on Saturday! A great start to a great weekend!

Even though it’s quite gray today, I’m happy to say that spring is here, starting to spread and starting to brighten up everything with colorful flowers, sunnier days, and fragrant smells!

If you are still trapped in the cold of winter, I hope this post will bring some color to your day! For more fun photos, visit my Etsy store at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/WorldPhotosByPaola