Daffodil Time!

I live in a valley in Washington state known for our daffodils and tulips. And the bulbs are doing their thing. Yesterday, despite having a very rough day, I had to run an errand. And knowing our local daffodil fields are in full bloom and will likely be gone in a week, the lure of a rare sunny day with blue skies and white puffy clouds, attracted me to some regal, bright, sunny flowers. Fortunately, knowing which fields were in bloom, I drove over to the area hoping there would be enough of a shoulder to the road where I could safely pull over.

You see, the entire area is a patchwork of farmland and roads that crisscross and have next to no shoulder for the most part. People will slow down while they’re driving, open a window and snap a few pictures while drivers behind them become annoyed. Or they’ll pull as far off the road as possible, usually leaving 1/3 of the car blocking the road – and these are roads with speed limits around 50 mph and only one lane in each direction. So finding a field in full bloom where I could pull completely off the road felt like winning the lottery.

This year, because of the pandemic the two local display gardens, whose tulips are just barely beginning to bloom, are requiring the public to buy tickets on a specific day and time slot. Historically, when I’ve gone to the display gardens I’ve picked a day when the weather was good and my schedule allowed. Often times spur of the moment. With my unfortunate dearth of energy, I’ll probably pass on the gardens this season. But for anyone new to my blog, I’ve got lots of tulip photos from years past, having been a regular to the gardens for about sixteen years.

Enjoy some sunny flowers!

The classic field shot!

Acres and acres of daffodils.

Yours truly!

While I was admiring the flowers I saw a woman and her elderly mother taking pictures of each other standing in front of the field. After they accepted my offer to snap a photo of the two of them together, they reciprocated, taking my photo. Chatting for a while, I learned they were from out of town and had just come from one of the big display gardens. They were curious about the daffodils, wondering if they were going to be cut and sold as cut flowers, as some of the bulb crops are. But no, many of the fields like this one are left for the blooms to die out and are later harvested for the bulbs. It’s one of the major crops of our valley.

There’s something about standing next to such a beautiful expanse that lights me up from the inside. I could have pulled up a lawn chair and sat their for hours.