99 Red Tulips

I think you'll recognize that scene in the background, as it's a favorite blip location: the lily pond at the Arboretum.

It was the site of my March 26 snow scene (the awakening), as well as my April 5 rendezvous with a robin.

And on April 9, I was there just before they cleaned the lily pond and installed some new spring plants. Yes, I go there a lot. Pretty much every chance I get. :-)

On this particular spring morning, red tulips were blooming profusely in a planter near the lily pond, and I couldn't resist this shot, framing the lily pond with the tulips as the picture's lower border. I hadn't received the memo about wearing red, but everybody else apparently had!

I've visited the Arboretum on so many perfect blue-sky mornings, but this was not one of them. On this day, clouds were brewing, with the promise of heavy storms later in the day as a system moved through.

As I approached the lily pond, the groundsman I often see was there. He had a hose and was cleaning some things (including the area around the lily pond - the cement was still wet from his efforts), and watering some other things (including the tulips). I hung back a few minutes to let him finish and move along so I could have the area to myself.

As he left, I approached the tulips for a closer look, and realized that his watering had left a special (unintended) gift for me, the photographer: glittering diamond droplets of water on every single green leaf and red bloom. And then, wonder of wonders, the sun even broke through for a few photos!

OK, so here is where I admit that I didn't actually count the tulips, so I don't know if there were really 99 of them. I suspect there were even more than that in the planter, though not all of them managed to squeeze into this shot.

In honor of the red riot of tulips, today's soundtrack is Nena's 99 Luftballons.