Crabapple photoessay

There are few things as beautiful as soft spring blossoms.

Heavenly Blooms

For two years I've been trying to catch the apple blossoms in bloom...too late. Last week, I noticed the trees in my neighborhood blossoming. "It's time! It must be time!" I dropped my daughter off at school this morning and hightailed it to the highway, driving half hour to the orchard in my former town of residence. Londonderry, New Hampshire is best known for it's apples. As the town grows and grows, the apple orchards remain fixed and retain this area's rural feeling. I moved from this lovely area three years ago as they built ten (yes, TEN) soccer fields on my street, knocked down the woods next to my house (on a slip of land so small we were told when we moved in seven years earlier that it could never be developed), and then built a power plant right in the landing pattern of Manchester airport (even though the townspeople voted it down.) I miss the orchards. They were once in running distance from my home. Until this morning, it was the apples that struck a chord in my heart. In late September, I still head for the orchards for mornings of apple picking and autumn sunshine. Today, I experienced the other end -- an apple's beginnings -- for the first time. I hope that I've captured the feeling of my walk in these photos, but the intense floral smell was intoxicating and unfortunately cannot be translated through a photo. I only hope that if you have experienced the fragrance that these photos will help bring the memory back.