A Tulip Tale

Although the weather today wasn't great, I could tell it was going to be a good day when I pulled up at my friend's place and saw my first lilac in bloom.

I love lilacs, in case you forgot. These smelled wonderful, of course. A good omen.

But today was not about lilacs, it was about tulips. One of my friends shared something on Facebook last week about a pick-your-own tulip farm in Rhode Island, so I shared it too, and another friend sent me a message that she and her husband had gotten tickets for Sunday, if I wanted to join them. I did want to, and I got a ticket before they sold out (on weekdays you can go and get a ticket there, but to control the crowd on weekends, you have to pre-purchase; it's only $5).

In addition to the picking fields, they have a show garden so you can get an idea of some varieties and their names (key for those who want to buy specific bulbs). So I learn that these magnificent creatures, which look like they are formed of crinkled tissue paper:

Are called Monarch Parrots. Now you know!

Mostly I didn't worry about the names, but just wandered around taking pictures.

I asked someone how many varieties they plant, and he said about 70, but some bloom earlier and are done now, while others bloom later and haven't really started yet. Which is nice, as the farm is open for a few weeks, so I guess everyone gets a chance at some.
I took rows-of-color shots:

And more broad views:

And lots of close-ups!

The variety was incredible. These were all in the show garden, but soon we made our way to the picking fields, which are more mixed.

Some of the ones in the picking area were pretty fully blown, so though they were beautiful, I didn't pick them, except in the sense of choosing to take their picture.

The ones I picked aren't so far along. I managed to limit myself to ten. Here are a few of them:

They're going to brighten it up around here this week, for sure!

Once we were picked to our limit, we went to a local restaurant for lunch, Luigi's. The chicken parm was delicious and I have enough leftovers for two meals: seriously, the take-out container weighs over a pound and a half, and styrofoam doesn't weigh that much!

I had the scale* out to weigh what I got for dessert, a slice of cappuccino cheesecake.
*My yarn scale is technically a kitchen scale, after all...

Just ridiculous! More than three-quarters of a pound! For five dollars. And it's delicious. Two thumbs up. A very good day, which will hopefully carry me through into the week on a high.