We’ve been away for a few days and I’m going to need a bit of time to get up to speed. I’ve got some interesting ideas, but it will take me a bit of time to write and edit them, so be a little patient. Didn’t take any pictures. It rained the entire time we were away, so there was no boating and mostly, Garry was trying to learn how to use a microphone and cut audio tracks — something with which I am NOT familiar, so I couldn’t be of much help.
Japanese maple in full leaf
My primary function seems to have been surrendering my Mac to Garry’s professional ambitions. I didn’t use it much anyway.
Meanwhile, I’ve got some trees!
Trees along the river and the pathway to the roadSun through the trees
I don’t have even a hint of spring fever unless you count a deep yearning to see a flower bloom and have the temperature rise regularly about 60 degrees. But spring isn’t much of a season in New England and every year, we hope we’ll get a “real” spring … and we don’t. It’s something about winds and ocean and rivers and rocks.
Birds not of a feather
Living in New York, which is just 240 miles south of here, we got a real spring. By this time of year, we had magnolias and crab apple blossoms and the daffodils were up and the grass was green. You wouldn’t think a mere 4 or 5-hour drive could make such a difference in climate, but it does.
Two Goldfinch
The closest vision to spring I’ve had is watching the birds change from their winter colors to their breeding colors. The dull greenish-yellow Goldfinch are brilliant yellow and even the brightest birds of winter are brighter now. Otherwise, though, we have some green shoots coming up from the ground, but other than a few crocuses, that’s pretty much it. No leaves, no flowers. No green grass.
A pair of Goldfinch – Two boys this time
We do, however, have ticks. And ants. They know it’s spring, even if the rest of New England still thinks it might yet return to winter. I think we are past that, however. It isn’t warm, but the really deep cold is gone. Now, it’s just muddy and chilly. And, I need to remind myself, by a few weeks from now, summer will show up overnight.
Our spring is usually one afternoon in early May. The next day, it’s 85 degrees. Flowers are blooming like mad and all the trees are in full leaf. Sometimes, this rollover into summer happens in a few hours. We go grocery shopping and by the time we are on our way home, everything is blooming.
I’ve lived up this way for more than 30 years and I’ve never gotten used to the suddenness of the seasons. Autumn was like that too, until recently with climate changing. It would be summer and the next day, it looked like every tree had been lit from within.
For the past few years, we’ve barely had any autumn at all. I’m used to missing spring, but fall has always been my favorite season, especially in New England … and having it disappear is very sad.
We had a second sunny day in a row. Unbelievable! But not to worry. It will rain tomorrow. Probably not until the evening. The rivers are full and they are expecting rivers to flood.
I am trying not to think about it, hoping the sump and the pump are up to the task. And our French drains are not clogged with leaves and the gutters are still viable. And the roof doesn’t leak.
The tree in all her glory
It has been raining … major storms … several times each week and the rivers are cresting. And guess who lives in a river valley?
Amazing colors!
I went out and took more pictures of The Tree. Because after tomorrow’s storm, it won’t have any leaves left. Count on it.
I have save more pictures because I’m going to need them.
It was a beautiful day. Actually sunny from earliest rays of the morning until sunset. I went out to clean up our front walk — the dogs, you know — and everything looked bright. We didn’t get much in the way of reds or orange, but the woods are quite yellow and the oaks are beginning to turn to bronze.
I went in to grab my camera and took a few pictures.
Photo: Garry Armstrong – Aldrich StreetPhoto: Garry Armstrong -The oaks are changing colorFred the Flamingo is still in the garden – Photo: Garry ArmstrongDown the driveway – Photo: Garry ArmstrongPhoto: Garry Armstrong – West past the shed into the woods
I live amidst the trees. Sometimes, I think the trees live amidst us, too. The bug and mouse guy was here yesterday and reported that we have fewer than maybe a dozen still active mice and no visible bugs, except for a mosquito he found in our bedroom.
I said that mosquitoes are just one of those things, but what are those things that keep coming out of the drain and he said they were “drain bugs.”
I said “they don’t seem to do anything” and he said, “mostly, bugs don’t do anything.” I’m not sure how to feel about that.
Under the stars
But meanwhile, he pointed out that we live in the woods, so we’re going to have mice because the amount of room they need to climb under a door is about the width of a dime.
Snow
I said I sympathized with their desire to find a warm place for the winter, but not here. And he said, “This is the place they are looking for.”
Proudly announcing, we are the winter spa for mice.
I went out and I was absolutely SURE the daffodils would be blooming.
Nope.
The oak trees are thinking about blooming
Everyone else’s daffodils are blooming. Everywhere I look, I see azaleas and blooming trees. Apple and cherry and all that. But not here.
Bud on the Rhododendron
I went out and I took pictures. The trees are beginning to put out leaves and we have some violets and those little purple flowers and there are at least half a dozen buds on the Rhododendron. But nothing else.
I’m sure it will burst into some kind of frenzied blooming any minute now, but not yet. Definitely, not yet.
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