04-30-2026 An Explosion of Spring

My favorite Easter bunnies

I thought that March was gorgeous, but it was nothing compared to the pink explosion of dogwoods all over Grants Pass. I drove around town in awe, stopping whenever I could to capture the magnificent pinks that were in so many yards.  Our town seems to be the perfect place for the plums that come first, and as they fade, the huge fluffy cherries begin to bloom, and just as they are beginning to fade a bit, out come the dogwoods.  It is simply breathtaking and colors my mood pink for the entire month.

Just a few of the dogwoods and lilacs in bloom in Grants Pass

Of course, the pinks would be less spectacular without the brilliance of yellow daffodils everywhere.  I always think I love fall the best until Spring explodes in our little valley.  Fall is brilliant and intense, but Spring is so full of promise.  Everything feels new and refreshed and full of possibility.  It is uplifting in a way that fall is not.  So remind me that I said this when fall comes around, and everything turns technicolor orange and red.  Right now, I am enamored with the fluorescent lime green of new leaves against the pink dogwoods.

Been a long time since we experienced an Easter morning like this one

Happy Easter Brunch

The month began with an early Easter.  Sometimes I have a big Easter family gathering, but this time, Melody and Robert needed to stay at home.  I decided to have a simple brunch for us to share with Deb, Matthew, and Katty.

Coyote guarding the lower pasture on Easter morning

Anyone reading this blog for any length of time knows that I am in love with seasonal decorating.  This year, I didn't bring down ALL the Easter decor boxes, but I did get the most important ones, including the bunnies.

Deb made superb deviled eggs

Once Easter was over, Mo and I returned to the yard and garden projects.  It was important to get everything related to the water system up and running before the rains ended.  We have 4 different locations for sprinkler timers, with 2 to 4 stations for each timer.  It keeps us busy making sure everything is running well, especially as things start to heat up and dry out.  Another big spring project completed this month.

This kind of color in April is a month early this year. It usually doesn’t look like this until May

I do love my chartreuse hostas

Mid-month, we took a much-needed MoHo break and traveled to the Oregon Coast for some ocean time.  When we made our reservation for Honeyman State Park just south of Florence, we planned to take the kayaks.  There are so many great kayaking lakes in the area, and the last time we were there, we knew we had to return to try out Woahink Lake and a few others.

Lunch break along the Umpqua River on our way to the coast

However, Mother Nature had other ideas.  The prediction for our week at the coast was for hard rain every single day.  All day.  We decided that trying to haul the kayaks in pouring rain and then getting them down off the car wasn't worth even the tiny possibility of a bit of clear weather.  We left the kayaks at home.

Mo and Mattie are enjoying the rain at our site at Honeyman State Park

Mo loaded up enough firewood for at least two big fires in case there was a break in the weather.  We have no problem sitting out by a fire in a sprinkle or two.

An afternoon break in the rain gave us a chance for a campfire

We planned to spend our time sitting in the MoHo, reading, playing cards, relaxing, and just enjoying the beauty of the gorgeous forest around us at Honeyman.  

It turned out to be an amazing trip even without the kayaks. On our first day there, it poured all day and all night and half the next day.  The sound of rain on the roof was deafening and yet somehow relaxing.

A little town break in Florence for fish and chips at Mo's

Then the sun came out.  We decided to visit the Visitor Center in Florence to see if there was anything around town that we had missed on previous trips to Florence.  Almost everything that was suggested by the docent was along the coast highway, and there wasn't a thing in town other than the waterfront area in Old Town Florence, where we have been many times.

Only the light keeper's house is visible from the parking lot at Cape Perpetua

We decided to drive north toward Cape Perpetua to finally get a closer look at what has to be the most photographed lighthouse on the Oregon Coast.  It was built in 1892 and perched about 200 feet above the ocean on a forested headland, not down at the water like most lighthouses.  That height gives it an incredible reach, and the original Fresnel lens is still working today.  We have driven past it on Highway 101 more times than I can count, always admiring it from the overlooks, and somehow never thought to actually go visit it.

It was our lucky day because the lighthouse was open and the sun was out in all its glorious splendor.  The trail to the lighthouse was only a half mile.  I had sticks, and I knew I could manage a half mile even if it was uphill.

The Keeper's House was closed, but even from the outside, it was beautiful

The views of the lighthouse from the parking lot and from the trail were wonderful, and Mo and I realized that we had only seen the lighthouse from the overlooks and viewpoints along Highway 101.  We marveled that in all our years of passing this lighthouse, we had never actually visited it.

The Cape Perpetua Lighthouse

View of the bridge on Highway 101 built by the CCC in the 1930's

Cape Perpetua Lighthouse

This little hike and visit to the lighthouse was the highlight of our coast camping trip this time around.  

Our second favorite part of the trip was spending a bit of time on another sunny morning hiking the sand dunes at Honeyman with Mattie.

Climbing the dunes is a challenge

Impossible to capture Mattie when she is running in the sand

Time for a rest

Bright enough for sunglasses!

We climbed a few dunes and then Mattie raced around in the sand as she always does, but we have noticed that her racing ends much sooner than it used to when she was younger.  Like me.  I managed to get to a spot where I had a nice hole in the sand that I could use as a chair.  I definitely didn't try to climb anything particularly steep.  Still, that time on the dunes in the morning sun was delightful.

In spite of the dour predictions for constant rain, we had a lot of gorgeous sunshine on the Oregon Coast for our little getaway.

Mo hand weeding the false dandelion

We returned home to late April flowers and more work in the pasture, weeding out the prolific false dandelion that takes over the grass without vigilance.

The end of the month was celebrated with our final setting of all the water timers and watching everything work perfectly.  For Now.  We do have to keep a close eye on things because no matter how good it all works, something will eventually blow out and a great geyser of water can empty our well cistern in no time.  Vigilance!!

Our very own dogwood bloomed for a full month this year