Well, this Project365 post is horribly late, and the only excuse I have is that I plumb forgot to do it. I was scrolling down the front page of the blog the other day looking for something else when I happened to see the March Top Five, and was all like, “Dang, man, I totally forgot to do April!” And now we’re almost through May. Oops.

Not that anyone was waiting with bated breath to find out which five photographs were my favorites from last month, but I do like to be consistent with documenting my projects around here, so… better late than never!

I really enjoy these monthly top fives — although this is the fourth year I’ve made the goal of taking a daily photograph with Project365, this is the first time I’ve done monthly updates on the blog (here are a few past months). I really like being able to look at the year not only through daily reminders, but also in the bigger chunks that these allow. It gives a different sort of perspective. Now that we’re well into May, it was interesting to look back at what I found worthy of photographing in April. It turned out that what interested and inspired me during the month was mainly the coming of spring.

[95/365] Watching

I snapped this one while CW and I were hanging out on the patio for the first time together this spring. I was drinking a beer and reading on my Kindle; he was tossing a softball against the side of the house and catching it in his new mitt; Egon was watching intently through the glass door.

[99/365] Azaleas

When the azaleas start to bloom all over town, that is when I truly start to feel that spring is here. The campus is absolutely covered in them, as is my neighborhood. This is our first spring in this house (we’ll be here for at least one more), and I was thrilled to discover that two of the otherwise nondescript bushes in our front yard are actually azaleas — lucky us!

[108/365] Rain, Flowerpot

It rained a LOT in April, and still occasionally got quite cold overnight. I was impatient about starting my container garden on the back patio, but it seemed wise to let these pots stay empty for a little while longer, at least until the cold overnights were behind us.

[109/365] Crowd

This was taken at the Old 280 Boogie, one of my favorite local events and also a sure sign of the start of spring in our area. Longer post on the festival here.

[117/365] Pot of Zinnias

On an excursion out to the lake for some tacos, CW and I passed by a lovely little nursery out in the country and I brought home these zinnias. With their presence, the spring/summer 2014 patio container garden has officially begun!