beech

There isn't any season of a beech tree's life that isn't beautiful to me,

but leaf-out is always especially fine.

~~~~~

sunday snaps

It looked like rain early this morning, so I went straight outside and got the chores done right away. Not one of the goats moved as I went to and fro with hay and buckets, although a couple sort of mumbled at me in their sleep.

Then I gathered the flowers Most Likely To Be Plastered To The Ground and brought them into the house to enjoy: 

There is more and more color appearing everywhere.

We've had a couple of really hot days this past week,

and lots of plants began flowering:

Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris)

yellow bells (Forsythia)

Flowering and/or putting out leaves.

Red oak (Quercus rubra)

Sugar maple (Acer saccharum)

Usually around this time of year, a single hummingbird will appear at my window, hovering at eye level, letting me know it's time to hang a feeder. Yesterday I decided to put the feeder out as a surprise to greet the first hummingbird. And in the evening, when it was nearly dark, look who appeared:

Piper and I had only one good long visit to the pond and woods this week. It's a good thing we lingered that day, because it turned out to be the last day before the black flies began to bite. Now they are unbearable.

Piper (Scottish Monkeyhound)

We actually could have gone out yesterday (covered in bug spray) but I blew it. I was in such a state from the dozens of black fly bites I've already accumulated from head to foot, I did some online research and took a "non-drowsy" antihistamine tablet to try to get a little relief from the itching. Well, I don't know what the "drowsy" formula could possibly feel like! I gradually became a stumbling zombie, struggling to focus on even the simple task of cooking a pot of farro. I don't recall falling asleep at 3 in the afternoon, but woke at 630 PM thinking it was Sunday morning. Thank goodness I had turned off the stove before sitting down!

 So, no walk in the woods yesterday, and none today because it is indeed raining. It will take quite a bribe to persuade Piper to leave her couch even long enough to walk down to the letterbox with me.

I understand your feelings on this, Piper. Listening to the rain on the roof, I am feeling a tiny bit smug about getting the chores done by 5:30 AM.

In fact, it's likely to be a quiet, cozy day of puttering in the house. The full extent of my productivity may be making a meatloaf.

Cheers, readers! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend, wherever you are.

~~~~~

the real thing

Between drizzling mizzling rains today, I paddled out and got a few pictures of Pulmonaria for you. These pictures accurately show how the colors pop up through the fallen leaves of last Autumn.

The largest leaves are red oak, which gives you an idea of the size of the plants.

And in this picture, you can see deep pink buds, and several flowers in the process of turning from pink to blue. This isn't the exact stem I painted, but it could have been.

I hadn't seen this plant until a kind gardener in town gave me some from her own garden. It was long past blooming, and when it came up the following year I did not know what it was, so the flowers were a big surprise. I posted a picture here on the blog  and several readers identified it for me.

Rereading that old blog post tonight also confirmed my feeling the bloodroot is usually up first.

Speaking of which, here is the bloodroot today: all tucked in against the cold.

Plants are simply amazing, aren't they?

~~~~~

bits of color

This year, the Pulmonaria began to bloom a full week before the bloodroot. It was so refreshing to suddenly see a bit of pink and blue amidst the many shades of brown in the leaf litter still covering most of the gardens.

The plants are only a few inches tall but they certainly have a lot going on in the Color Department. In addition to the multi-toned stems and prettily mottled leaves, the flowers begin to bloom in pink, then shift to a lavender blue!

~~~~~

no turning back

Yesterday, a cluster of delicate bloodroot buds - which I've been admiring daily - 

opened!

The sky was overcast and rain soon began to fall, continuing all afternoon and right through the night. It was still raining when I got up this morning, and although it has now stopped, the sky is a heavy, dark grey.

But no matter.

The bloodroot is blooming.

That's it.

It's Spring!

Let's dive in.

~~~~~