Mellow Yellow Part 2

The major source of mellow yellow this week is POLLEN.  Everything is covered with a fine dusting of tiny yellow grains. Sunday it was so thick you could see it wafting by like snow in the air, forming little drifts at the edges of things.  A light rain last night was only enough to make splattered patterns on surfaces.  Happily it doesn't seem to be blowing out of the trees quite as thickly as it was.  We can only hope that it will subside quickly and we can dust the house, rinse off the cars and carry on, pollen free into the spring.

 

This magnolia is more yellow in bud, creamier once it opens, but I think it's really fine.  

Corylopsis dangles its blossoms at the edge of the lawn

 

Native buckeye is verging  towards chartreuse but will yellow up as it opens

Creeping Jenny is truly on the chartreuse side of things 

but so lovely against the blue of the ajuga

Golden oregano in the background, yellow leaves of spider wort in the pot, 

electric next to the purple pansy

We sally forth into spring, each day brings new tasks, prepping the soil for planting the tomatoes, pruning the fig tree, pulling last falls greens from the garden before they go entirely to flower and cleaning, cooking, freezing or eating them.  This makes way for the spring planting of greens which are coming right along.  And the asparagus is starting, so having a break from other veggies is actually a good thing, it's all we can do to keep up with the asparagus harvest once it gets into full swing. 

This is an OK problem to have.

At the Pond

Feeling sluggish this morning, even after coffee and my morning write, I opted to go straight out the door for a walk to shake off the sleepies.  When I stepped outside I could feel it would be a warmer day, though it was still a crisp 38 degrees.  Somethings changed, shifted, its April! and I can feel the spring is really going to happen now.  I trucked along the trail, down to the creek, checking out a few birds here and there, listening to the morning chorus that is growing by the day.  The creek has really been flowing smartly thanks to so much rain and I'm watching now hoping to see the big carp swimming up from University Lake to spawn.

 The may apples started unfurling in the past few days

On the way back by the pond I spotted a pair of geese swimming and a great blue heron fishing down at the marsh end so I stopped to take it all in.  I sat on the bench and watched a pair of kingfishers working on breakfast.  They would dash into the water with a splash, fly back up to a branch, whack the little silver fish thwack, thwack a couple of times to stun it, then reposition it in their bill and choke it down with a couple of gulps and a shake.  They were busy and I watched as they each caught several.

Placid morning pond, reflecting the fabulous blue sky

The turtles started to crawl up onto their logs for the daily sunbath.  I've counted as many as 15 lately on warm afternoons, lined up on the downed trees, large and small, mostly yellow-bellied sliders with a couple of snappers making themselves obvious, their fat heads sticking out, the size of my fist.  I wonder if they have their spots like kids in a classroom, regulars at a bar.  They are jumpy and won't let me get very close before they plop back into the water as I approach.

Oh, I am looking forward to the great unfurling, it is beginning and no matter how many years I watch, it never gets old.  Today, more weeding, hoping to get one of the big flower beds finished and mulched.  Wish me luck!

Spring has Sprung (and so has the chickweed)

I know I shouldn't open with such an awful cliche, but I can't help it. We are having the longest spring warm spell I can remember and everything is just bursting out.  The tulip magnolia is a mass of blooms and walking by on a warm day the air is filled with the gingery-lemon scent of these two-tone flowers.  The daffodils and tulips are rushing to a finish, and lots of things I think of as April flowers are sending up buds and flower stalks with great speed.  We've had heavy rains and thunderstorms and temperatures in the high 70's and low 80's for two weeks straight now.  David has mowed the grass twice in the last week it's grown so fast due to the rains.

The view from inside the loropetalum is absolutely electric!

 

Stuck at my desk earlier this week I went out to sit on the back stoop in the sun for a minute and when  I looked over I noticed this garter snake sunning too on a stump next to the fountain.  It's been great to see all the reptiles re-emerging, lizards scurry up tree trunks and across the flagstone path.  Toads hop from under my feet and tiny chorus frogs spring away as I work my way through the flowerbeds pulling up the endless chickweed.  David unearthed Gertrude yesterday, her shell muddy, she moving slowly, not quite ready perhaps to wake up again.

It is the time of the great unfurling and the green up has begun. The red bud trees have been in full bloom all week and are suddenly wrapped in the green haze of the understory leafing out.  As I drive down country roads the many pastels of new growth surround me.  Here in our yard we stroll daily to take in the latest opening of a flower or fattening of a bud.  Pulling weeds as we wander along.  This is the camellia that my neighbor Portia said was X-rated and I believe she's right.

Kujacku Tsubaki

Weeping leaves, red and white tulip shaped drooping flowers, this one is hard not to love.  Well, at this time of year, the whole yard is hard not to love, accept for the chickweed.

This evening we took a walk down to the creek to check out the results of the latest rain, which were good, the pond creek was really flowing for the first time all winter.  On our way back home we saw first an osprey flying across the farm and then almost immediately we spotted three great blue herons on their way to a roost for the night.  Yesterday there were four red-shouldered hawks screeing and circling above our house in the afternoon. 

Everything is on the move and ready to begin the next cycle of life and growth. I want it to slow down so I can relish each moment, each opening of the petals.  I'm looking forward to a few days here at home with few obligations other than just being here in the space and taking in all the beauty, as I pull weeds...

More Squirrel Antics

So I'm standing there making coffee yesterday morning, feeling a little bleary-eyed and see something orange go flying up the side of a tree and wonder if I'm imagining things when I realize, it's a squirrel.

This is not a great photo but if you look close you can see the little guy above the big orange towel on the side of the tree. Yes, this is a full size bath towel that was left out to dry, fortunately, one classified for outdoor use at this point, that the squirrel spotted and must have thought "Wow, all the chicks will be comin' over to my crib when I get it all pimped out with this plush orange lining."

It got hung up and he abandoned it in the branch. This morning I noticed he had managed to move it another 12 feet or so towards his nest, but now that it's raining and the towel is soaking wet I'm betting it won't move any more until it dries out a bit- I was surprised he was able to carry it as far as he did.

Oh the continuing saga/joy of living with squirrels. Last week it was the lawnmower, David filled it with gas only to discover the squirrels had chewed a hole in the gas line and gas was leaking all over the ground. He managed to make a repair but not after a few choice words directed towards our furry pests.

Today I am enjoying a lovely rainy day and looking forward to one more weekend to be inside before getting pulled outside to endless chores which I think should start about wednesday when the weather clears and warms again. I want to put in another planting of lettuce, a few greens, more beets and carrots, the ones I planted in February didn't come up- too cold I guess, so I'll try again. And of course its time to weed and mulch, always time to weed and mulch.