Chocolate and forsythia

Magic realism is hard to come by in the suburbs, but it can be found. On Monday, me & the lads took a bike ride to Borderlands state park (the park comes from an old estate -- the mansion & grounds are still there) and en route encountered the fabled Mansfield Chocolate factory.

 

Yes, it is an active chocolate factory ("Like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?!" asked Sam).

 And -- so it is said -- you can always tell when it is about to rain, for the air in Mansfield smells like chocolate.

Here are some snaps of Borderlands in the spring:

 

... the last shot is of the estate swimming pool, build in the 1930s (now filled).