Rochester, N.Y. and the Genesee River on a typical cloudy day!

In which Moominmama wishes everyone a Happy Mothers Day and celebrates daughter's recovery from surgery...

Moominmama is back to mothering for a short time and is pleased to report that all went well with older daughter's surgery. Daughter is experiencing some pain and general discomfort but also knows that this will pass. She remains in good spirits. 

While she was getting some much-needed rest, I ducked out on a rare sunny afternoon for a walk in my all-time favorite park, Highland Park.

This time of year, it is spectacular, and I'm happy to be here to watch the lilacs come into full bloom in the coming days and weeks. 

For those of you who don't know Rochester's Highland Park, it is home to about 1,200 lilac bushes, representing 500 different varieties. 

Over 50 new varieties have been developed by horticulturists here but some of the original bushes, dating back to 1892, also remain.

Though Rochester is known for its lilacs, there are many other wonderful bright spots throughout the park, including collections of azaleas, magnolias, tulips and Japanese maples. 

This time of year, there are fresh colors around every bend. That's largely because the park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who created the pathways to take you around one curve after another, each with new delights for the senses. 

The park has a second claim to fame as the location of the first-ever monument erected in the United States to honor an African American -- Frederick Douglass in 1899.

He lived and worked in Rochester from 1847 to 1872, when his home here was destroyed by fire.

On the bicentennial of his birth, the community arranged with local artist Olivia Kim to create multiple Douglass statues now placed around the city to mark locations that were important to his life in this community. This statue is the original, recently relocated to give it greater prominence in the park.

In fact, Douglass so valued his time in Rochester -- where he wrote many of his speeches and published The North Star -- that he asked to be buried in nearby Mount Hope Cemetery, which is across the road from Highland Park.

There, he is not far from his friend and fellow activist, Susan B. Anthony, also interred at the Mount Hope Cemetery. 

I look forward to visiting Highland Park frequently despite the crowds drawn to the annual Lilac Festival now underway. Spring is a season I missed in my hasty drive south from NH, and I want to savor the landscape's renewal.

I also look forward to reconnecting with old friends. And to being a mother again for a little while, helping the offspring regain her independence before Moominmama sets off again, heading west!