Tulip Memories

My tulip 

a new one I planted this year.

It looked white in bud, just white and green.

Not until it began to open did I know that I had a special pink ruffled tulip on my hands.

 Oh, it did turn out to be a pretty bloom and I enjoyed for a while before it faded.

 Tulips are a favorite of mine. 

When I was a child and lived in western Michigan, we got to go to Holland, Michigan to see the tulip festival that they hold there every spring. The Michigan winter is long and dreary, 

so spring is especially welcome. The streets were lined with tulips of every color imaginable. Windmills turned their Dutch heads along the coastline of the big lake.Shops stood for handouts from tourists along the highway. Holland New Holland full of Dutch people with surnames like Brink, De Vries, Meijer, Jansen, DeJong and Smit.

 I recall going there once after I was married and had my little Delaney in tow. 

In a gift shop she chose a pair of wooden shoes which she kept for many years

 as a remembrance of the trip.

They are spring, new life, rebirth and rejoicing!