Some signs of spring!

A quick blog on what I see as some signs of spring in Lebanon.  Some things may be the same, some different. The fact that it is averaging a high of 70-80 degrees here every day is a true sign that we are well into what the Lebanese would call "warmer weather" but still, they look at us a little funny when we are wearing short sleeves and they are still wearing their fleeces. 

This is the lettuce we planted about a week ago. It's some sort of romaine type. We didn't understand the package.

When we bought this plant from the nursery the owner called it a "nerd" plant. Happy to see the nerd is starting to bloom!

This is our pomegranate tree on our balcony. The red buds are the blooms about ready to open! Looks like more than one pomegranate this summer!

These tomatoes are part of the garden on our balcony!

The wonderful strawberries that are starting to appear at the fruit stand around the corner.

These are "green" almonds. Many people eat these here. You eat everything but the stem and dip them in salt. I think they are really good!

Next to the school are these really nice flowering trees. Don't know what they are but they are pretty!

This is the moth we saw on the wall of the school on Friday.  It was about 2 1/2 inches from head to tail.

This street cat was living outside of our 3rd floor entrance. Mother's day was two weeks ago and one of our colleagues couldn't leave her on the street to have her kittens.  Last week she had them. I'm sure we will soon be seeing kittens all over the place in Beirut!

Here are all 5 of them in a cute little pile. What a lucky mom and her babies!

Last but not least. Every morning we see these older men going out for a swim in the Med.  Yes, they do it all year around but it seems that there are more of them these days!