In search of blooming almond trees

Don't you think that the most appropriate weather for a Sunday is to be sunny?
Maybe it doesn't apply to people who unfortunately have to work or don't have the opportunity to spend a free day outside in nature. On those days when I work for the whole day and can't enjoy the aforementioned activity I don't really care about the weather conditions. But a Sunday afternoon, when I can finally get out with my little family I do like to enjoy the light and warmth. Though to be honest, it was a bit too warm today, I went in short sleeves and felt like it was summer already. So far, the calendar says today is March 12 so summer is still far away. But spring is knocking on our doors with all the plants that started blooming.

This morning while I was driving to the city where I have my morning piano gig I noticed that the almond trees were beautifully adorned by those white little flowers. A quick decision was made in my mind - today we will have early lunch, an extra short siesta (more like a power nap) and we will be out in search of those blooming trees. The starting point would be the river where we sometimes walk and from there we would reach the orchards.

Gig - done.

Lunch - prepared and consumed.

Short nap - done.

River - reached.

Myriad of blooming almond trees - .... where are the trees???

Yeah, we had high expectations but it was just three blooming trees that we found. 😂

I even have some doubts about whether these trees are almond trees at all but @castri-ja asked for a tag if I make a post about these findings. Well, here are the blooming trees, but don't ask me to confirm the type of the tree :D

But this failed mission doesn't mean we had a bad time. No. We still liked the surroundings and the walk was pleasant. The starting point was the river, as I already mentioned. There is a railway bridge that crosses the little river:

Paths between the trees and reed, with the mountain the in background. It is our Sierra de Bernia mountain, which somehow protects this area from bad weather.

We proceeded with the plan to go by the orchards and find those blooming trees (haha, you all already saw the results, which were not spectacular 😅) so the paths we took looked like these:

We saw mostly orange trees, and many of them still had fruits. However, the main season of oranges already passed, I know it as my neighbour is growing these fruits and told me that they are not the best for consumption anymore.

Close to one house, there was a meadow full of small yellow flowers. Like a yellow, soft blanket...

...and that yellow flower blanket reminded me of another plant I saw by the river. It is not the same plant, but the colour is matching at least :D

And more flowers are visiting this post as the main protagonist (which had to be the almond tree flower) didn't show itself in the best way. These guys were sunbathing in the garden of the house (go back two photos above to see which house).

But dear readers, don't be afraid that just flowers, rivers and paths are coming into this post. There were also some funny creatures we met when passed by the entrance of this ranch. It says Rancho Paraíso, which is paradise ranch or a ranch from paradise... I think it is not far from the truth. We could say that it is a perfect place to have peace of mind... not just for humans but for the animals that live there.

So, on one side fence, there were hens and roosters. They were not afraid, but the opposite, they came so close to the fence. Probably waited to get some food or maybe they were curious... in any case, they looked very nice, healthy and friendly.

We went back to the river and then back to the main road where we parked. There is that famous yard with the goats, that I brought already a few times to my blog hahaha, but I couldn't resist today to take another photo of at least one goat. A pity, this one didn't want to pose.

To round up this Sunday afternoon walk, which had to be the search for blooming almond trees but became everything else, I am bringing one more sign of the upcoming spring. The buds of a birch tree were in the opening phase. They somehow asked with their charm to be shot and posted here.

This bud posed and with its simplicity showed how sublime some simple things can be on a sunny Sunday afternoon.