Greening

Earth Day 2017.   It's been raining all week.  The hillsides are getting greener and greener.  I snuck out between the showers to click a few photos.

 
This time of year always reminds me of Robert Frost's poem: 

        "Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold,

Her early leaf's a flower, but only so an hour ...."

The woods are full of dogwoods in bloom.

The dawn redwood is leafing out.  I need to find a special place to plant this little tree this spring.

Spring is such a hopeful time of the year.  I'm hoping the environment can  survive the next four years of people in power who care more for money than the earth.

The First Week of April

This past week has been cold and rainy and very windy.  All the clouds blowing in and out have made for some dramatic skies above the house above Heck Creek. 

Of course, no photo can really capture the sky.

Between the showers the Pop, with a little help from me, managed to get almost all of the siding on the big storage shed.  With its construction we now have all the stuff here and can stop paying for the storage unit.  We're slowly trying to sell or donate all the things we don't need so we can get rid of some of the clutter.

 

Finally the wind has blown away all the clouds and we have sunshine.

This morning there's not a cloud in the sky.   I can begin to see some color on the trees on the hill across the way.

  

And the redbud is flowering.

  

 Robyn's daisy just can't wait--it's bloomed its first bloom indoors.

 

It's Springing

The weather's warmed up and it's beginning to look like spring.  We have a few daffodils Ralph planted spring before last. On my garden to do list is to plant lots more spring bulbs this fall.

There are also a few grape hyacinths  scattered around.  Definitely need more bulbs next spring.

 

One of the plants I miss most from the Springfield garden is my pussy willow.  It was always covered in honeybees.  I bought one for a start here at the house above Heck Creek.  We'll plant it down in the bowl not too far from the bee yard.  Just love those fuzzy catkins.

And here's an eastern fence lizard sunning himself in the rock border.

Snow and Ice and Freezing Rain

The first part of March was sunny and warmish, almost balmy.  Everyone seemed to think that spring had come early and started working in their gardens.  I even thought about cleaning the beds and moving mulch back from the perennials.  But, one of the qualities gardeners need is patience.  I ended up just sitting on the bench in the sun and planning.  Early March is just too soon.  And it seemed the lion of March was not quite ready to succumb to the lamb.  This week we've got cloudy skies, snow, sleet and freezing rain with lows in the teens.

Who are these people ....

Flying through the skies high above the house above Heck Creek?

 

Where are they all going?

Leaving their traces in the sky. 

(And what are those reflections on my camera lens?)

Midwinter Sunrise