I spent this weekend in Connecticut, visiting friends, as well as some of my favorite places. This was the second annual trip to a wonderful craft fair in Massachusetts and dinner at a favorite restaurant in Amherst. The craft fair is primarily photography-free and I even took a vacation from taking pictures. I stayed on that vacation until this afternoon when I arrived at Elizabeth Park in Hartford.
Kite flying on a perfect spring afternoon in Elizabeth Park, Hartford.
I could have -- and probably did -- spend the same afternoon with my parents any year of my growing up. My friend, Lonni, and I had lunch at Peterson's, a classic ice cream parlor in West Hartford and then we went to Elizabeth Park. Elizabeth Park, founded in 1897, is the oldest Rose Garden in America. When I was growing up my family made frequent trips to the park. We saw the roses, the American flag made of flowers, fed the ducks, ate pretzels and had a hot dog lunch. They were simple pleasures and still so sweet. The Park went through a period of disrepair in the 1970s, but thanks to a fabulous group of volunteers it is lovely again.
It was much too soon for the great majority of the roses and the floral American flag, but there were still beautiful flowers. We spent a lot of time looking at the iris beds.
Special effects, thanks to Google+
I was happy to find this goose family enjoying the pond. Now there are signs telling visitors not to feed the ducks and geese, but few things were more fun decades ago than feeding the ducks. I remember bringing plastic bread bags with the ends of the loaf on our excursions.
There were lovely plantings everywhere and I enjoyed the frame provided to capture the scene.
Google supplied the animation to this scene of iris.
The first roses of the season.
Very soon every arch and bed will be filled with roses of all colors.
I hope you've enjoyed our visit to Elizabeth Park, and I hope your weekend gave you time to stop and smell the roses.
As ever, thanks for visiting and have a wonderful week.
