rochester's gifts

I just came across this draft post from last spring. It's been snowing hard here for a week, and it's hard to remember warm weather and beautiful flowers. So this brought back a very welcome memory...

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People who live in Rochester pay a heavy price for it. The weather is predominately gray. The jobs are relatively scarce. Taxes are high. Salaries are low.

But the past few weeks have reminded me exactly why my heart is here forever. Once every few years, there is a stretch of good weather in the spring that's perfectly timed to coordinate with the opening of the flowers. This has been one of those years. And the window has lasted for almost three weeks. And the three weeks began when daffodils budded and have lasted through tulips, bleeding hearts, early irises, and best of all the flowering trees. Led by the magnolias two weeks ago, hundreds of stunning flowering trees opened and have been in full bloom. For two weeks. In the sun. And warm.

Each day my drive home from work gets longer and longer, as I feel the need to see as much as I can before the blossoms give way to green leaves.