The tantalizing early signs of spring beckoned when I headed to Chicago for a conference just before St. Patrick’s Day weekend, demanding a bit of urban hiking. The bright greens of the season were everywhere you looked for them, from the snowdrops blooming abundantly on the front lawns of Oak Park….
……..to the dinosaurs stealthily creeping through the ferns in the Lincoln Park Conservatory:
And of course, the riotous joy of spring was in full swing at the annual greening of the Chicago River, in honor of St. Paddy:
The Van Gogh’s Bedrooms exhibit at the Art Institute was a must-see, offering up a full-size replica of the artist’s bedroom at his beloved Yellow House, along with his paintings of the room, and accompanied by a stunning group of paintings that touched on his experience of home, including the Poet’s Garden:
And finally, oblivious to the madding crowd was this little tree frog in the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, who also presaged the first frog sighting of the season in my own pond at home the day I returned. Welcome, spring.
Watch Me While I Disappear 