Rain

It's been really raining here.  Three and a half inches in the last few days with more in the forecast.  Heck Creek is really roaring.

Blackberry Summer?

High temperature today--90 degrees.  Where's the traditional blackberry winter?  It seems there was no Spring this year, just a long winter and now summer.

 

Roadside Flowers

As I walk down the driveway to get the mail, I see the first of the year's fleabane.  It's considered a weed, but I like the little white fringe around the egg-yolk yellow centers.

Common fleabane, Erigeron philadelphicus

Across the road by the old barn is a field of ragwort or groundsel.  It seems quite plentiful this year.
  

Golden ragwort, Senecio aureus

At the mailbox I decide to walk east down Heck Creek Road toward the blacktop.  Scattered throughout the woods I see more ragwort and wild geranium.

Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum

Also, scattered on the forest floor and beside the ditch, mud-spattered, were

violets. The purple of violets is one of my favorite colors.

Common blue violet, Viola sororia

Where the road curves a bit and is shadier and wetter, I find the diminutive dwarf crested iris and rue anemone growing side by side.

Rue anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides

Dwarf crested iris, Iris cristata

A beautiful Spring day.