I can smell the very breath of spring in the air. All of the crab apple trees around the city are in full bloom this weekend.

The Breath of Spring

Each breeze in our open-window weather days wafts the scent of apple blossoms into our home. When I go outside to work in the garden, our neighbor’s glorious crab apple tree draws me just as it draws the honey bees, to stop and smell the blossoms.

Today I got up early and went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to enjoy the crab apple trees in bloom.

Imagine a hillside with crab apple trees in bloom as far as the eye can see. The Arboretum is all that and more. I love to visit in all seasons but being there to take in the crab apple blossoms always fills me with joy.

Oh, if only I could share the heavenly scent of all those apple blossoms wafting in the air. It is truly my idea of heaven.

When I was a child we had a small apple orchard on our farm. We grew jonathons, harvest, wealthy, red delicious, and yellow delicious apples. I loved to go to the orchard when everything was in bloom and often I picked a few small branches to bring into the house and enjoy. Even as a child I loved the scent of flowers in the air.

As I wandered around the Arboretum this morning with my camera one particular tree beckoned me. It stood at the bottom of a slope ablaze with red apple blossoms.

I stopped to photograph the entire tree.

Then I wandered closer. Have you ever seen such magnificence?

Switching to my macro lens, I became engrossed in flowers everywhere I looked. Periodically I intentionally put my camera down and just gazed at it all, breathing in the beauty and the fragrance.

Although I find there is something magical in making photos, the larger magic I experience is always appreciation and gratitude for the beauty of nature. I stop and let the beauty soak into me slowly instead of getting caught up in “capturing” it.

Photography is an act of collaboration with nature. It is an act of noticing, each moment unique and fleeting. Light changes, wind rises, clouds pass over. Remembering to stay present helps me rekindle my sense of wonder and appreciation moment after moment after moment.