Crabapple and Rain

We are having our neighbors for dinner tonight. She is my friend from South Africa (latterly from Cleveland where she was a landscaper) and he is an orthopedist retired from the Cleveland Clinic. They moved here in July, and she and I joked, when we met for the first time down by the mailboxes, about still having toilet paper on the dining table. We are now both through the worst of the remodeling disruptions, and they are on the eve of a trip back to Cleveland where he is to have heart surgery. A little friendship and distraction seemed like a good idea.

After weeks of dry springlike weather, it is now officially the first day of spring and raining. Gentle and much needed, but rain nonetheless--just as we were starting to plan barbecues and get out the outdoor furniture. I have settled in so thoroughly to leisurely mornings at home with our Nespresso machine and newspapers, that I rarely think of how we used to fall out of bed, walk the dog and go to Peet's before our day could begin. In fact, I was almost late to my new Pilates class. Fortunately, the door had not closed yet and I slipped in unnoticed.

Having made an almond cake from the wonderful cookbook Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi, I went down to the street with my camera to see how the beautiful flowering crabapple tree was faring in the rain. I think these are my favorite flowering trees. Their blossoms emerge a bright pink and gracefully fade to lighter shades of pink as they open. The leaves emerge bright green at the same time as the blossoms, providing a nice contrast and, as an added bonus, the blossoms seem to stay on longer than most other flowering varieties.

It appears to have stopped raining and is brightening up a bit. Perhaps OilMan can barbecue our salmon after all, but I don't think we'll make them eat outdoors just yet....