Happy Easter

Easter chocolate eggs germinating sugar flowers.

Or to my non-Christian friends, happy whatever spring-time commemoration you observe.
The operative word is “spring.” As in “budding flowers and fruits.” We have them all over Venice and environs. So please accept these images in the spirit of reawakening, and let us continue to hope for the best.
Peach blossoms from Sicily. I watch for them every year.

Lemon-buds waiting to blossom, seen on a lemon tree in a big pot at the Rialto Market.

The lemon blossom a week later.

You don’t only see spring here, you eat it. Some of the earliest delicacies are (clockwise from upper left): Bruscandoli, or wild hops; carletti, the leaves of the unhappily named bladder campion; asparagus; and the slim strands of “barba di frate” (friar’s beard). Get them when you see them, because they’re not staying long.

A small fig tree getting to work on Sant’ Erasmo.

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