Alternating sun with double digit temperatures and rain with freezing nights seem to be what spring blossoms are partial to, and they are all looking their best. Yesterday was a glorious and brilliant sunny spring day, and it was great to be out and about!
In my garden all sorts of blue flowers are out – such a delight to blue-loving me!
The cherry blossoms and magnolia are magnificent.
At the Bonn Botanical Garden, a carpet of grape hyacinths beneath a Kanzan cherry.
One of the best magnolias, blooming in the elegant neighbourhood of Suedstadt.
I stumbled upon an antique market in downtown Bonn, and took the chance to search for turquoise earrings. Alas, except for a couple – one too large and too heavy, the other clip-ons – there were none that caught my fancy. It will take a while to find another pair as unique as those lost ones were.
It was fun wandering around nevertheless, just having a look. The stalls were a mix of high-end antiques and junk without any pretensions at provenance. A lot of the jewelry were amber, understandable as we are very close to where European amber gets washed ashore. There were furniture and household linen from France, silverware, and even a couple of stalls with lovely jade and Japanese lacquer.
Although my cupidity was aroused by certain things, I was intent on turquoise earrings, and came away having bought nothing at all. I wasn’t disappointed though. And it felt good not to have succumbed, for once, to indulging in the “consuming passion” that appeared to have affected quite a number of people. And I look back on how my younger, avid consumer self used to be, especially amidst the irresistible temptations of similar markets in Kyoto and Tokyo. And now many decades on, I realise that less is indeed more.
