Queen's Day

 

My nephew in Washington, D.C., sent an email this morning, asking me to wish G a happy Queen's Day.

I'd forgotten all about it.  I experienced it on one of our trips to Holland in 1990; we happened to be in Utrecht that day, and the city was decorated with orange as far as the eye could see.  Lots of revelers enjoying the warm and sunny day.  I looked back through my photos from that trip, and there is not a single picture taken that day!  So the one above, taken at the Keukenhof on that trip, will have to do.  The canals and streets were full of people, and it was a wonderful sight.

The next year on Queen's Day, G took half a day off work and created this garden next to our patio, which I can see from the study window on this overcast morning. 

Since then we've called it the Queen's garden.  In a normal spring, we would still have daffodils and Virginia bluebells blooming in this garden, but with this year's extraordinarily early spring, those flowers have already finished.  But we have the promise of peony and allium blooms, dianthus and harebells.  I think I need to add some tulip bulbs of varying bloom times to this garden, to make it more festive for future Queen's Days.