The sun came out and the trees and shrubs exploded. The forsythia, the hydrangeas leaves are out, the cherry and apple trees are showing their beautiful flowers and, yes, the pollen is all around us, but we are smiling.

Happy Birthday to all who celebrated their day this past week. Big balloons go out to Maya Nascimento and Icaro Nunes, who celebrated April 20; Fabiano Oliveira Filho, April 21; Edmund Cottle, Hayconny Da Silva, Gabryelly Ribeiro, April 22; and to Maeve Leahy, Jackson Lucier and Alexia Veira, who celebrate their day today April 26.

Debbie MacInnis just returned from Saddlebrook Maine where she traveled to watch the eclipse. This has been a lifelong dream of hers since she had traveled to Kansas for the last eclipse only to have it cloudy and could barely see it. Debbie sat and watched the eclipse from beginning to end and loved every minute of it.

Ellen and Ella Blodgett used the school vacation as a woman’s trip as this is Ella’s senior year and they thought they would make the best of it, and they did. They traveled to Waynesborough, Va., to visit a friend and went for a horseback ride and did some hiking around. Then they headed north and visited Luray Caverns, and stopped at Hershey where they both made their own candy bars and brought home some goodies. They ended up in Boston and visited MassArt college for a tour, which is where Ella will be attending in the fall. I think you could call it an eating trip because they hit all of their favorite restaurants all the way. It was a memorable trip for both of them and thanked dad Mark for taking care of all the animals while they were away.

I hope you got a chance to enjoy the Pink Moon on Monday night. I play on a team at trivia at the bowling alley in Oak Bluffs, and when we left the first thing you noticed was how bright the moon was. We came home Beach Road, and it was so bright and beautiful the water just shimmered, and you could see the ripples. You could tell others were enjoying it as everyone was driving slowly to enjoy the view.

Have a great week and keep the home candles burning.