Walks Between Spring Showers

Spring showers are coaxing out the green

and keeping the Dutchman Breeches very wet.

They might have a chance of staying dry...

if they were under the umbrella shaped May Apples.

On the dry days between the thunderstorms and light rain...

I've cleared several flower beds and the fenced salad garden...

raked tons of leaves, trimmed the hedge and swept a few steps. 

I spend just as much time walking in the woods though.

Trees always seem to fall aross paths or between trees.

This one makes a good rest stop for watching the sky...

Turkey vultures soar and circle.....over the hillsides.

On the ground there's always odds and ends to be found...

lost feathers, bones, heart shaped rocks... 

a squirrel's balanced or chiseled hickory nut...

odd 'elephant' tree trunks, logs, rocks and stumps.

~ photos enlarge ~

Often wild turkeys come into view...

they are free to roam as they please....

with no fear of ever being cooked by me!

But...cook I do...

though leaning toward more salads these last few days. 

On my last walk with Alivia...

she came prepared with a sketch book journal. 

She was keeping a list of things we saw....

until she dulled her pencil writing her name on a tree.

Walks to the creek find Alivia either...

going over, going under, sitting on...

or contemplating logs!

She decided to walk across this long one...

ended up crawling, turning around and crawling back! 

These are a few of the things she found.

Bumble bees and Leaf Bugs have returned...

 along with one lone turtle...still covered with mud.

These are 'dry' Dutchman Breeches at the base of a Beech tree...

...like fresh white wash hanging on a line.

This is Bloodroot growing in the woods.  

 White Rue-anemones and a Trout Lily!

Wild Spring Beauties growing in the front yard.

Pink Rue-anemone at the base of an old Beech tree.

Other Pinks...Oak & Cut Leaf Toothwort!

A blue tinted heart shaped lost balloon high in a tree.

Other blues and a bit of yellow appear some days!

Some days I'm lucky....

and see lovely morning skies....of white, pink and blue.

Hope they find their way to You!

~ ♥ Wanda  ♥ ~

Products of Spring

It's cold again this week...but at least the Daffodils are still blooming!

The Pileated Woodpecker, Gray Squirrel, Deer, and Eastern Bluebird don't seem to mind the change in temperature from the mid 60s to the low 40s.

On the warmer days last week...

Alivia and I returned to the creek just over the hill

 on the south side of the house.

Alivia picked one of the first wildflowers produced by Spring.

There were many of them...but...

...the photo above is a little misleading...

as you can see below.....that flower was very tiny.

~all photos enlarge~

 Alivia prefers to walk in the creek bed...

 to look for fossils and odd shaped or pretty rocks...

but is still willing to explore the trees and logs along the edge.

Some of the heart-shaped rocks we found were small...

while others were Huge.

This is Alivia's A-shaped grapevine on the hillside...

just over the hill from the fenced garden in the field... 

...not much going on there...

YET...

BUT...

 given several weeks.....Spring will produce this... 

...or even this...in just a few weeks...

as seen from the top of the hill early last Spring.

The seond day of Spring this year brought a big production...

 of heavy rain and hail during a thunderstorm.

The drive looked like a creek of running water.

Maybe all that moisture will put some leaves on the bare trees...leaves that will camouflage that cell tower on the far hill...although leafless trees can produce interesting though stark photos. 

On a solitary walk on one of the warmer days....

an extremely sweet scent filled the air.

Sap was seeping from this tall tree...around which...

butterflies were fluttering and scarlet mites were scurrying.

I think the tree looks like a lady with out-reaching arms and flowing hair.

I couldn't capture a photo of more than three butterflies...

...photo below has one in the air and two on the trunk.

~enlarges~

Just a few days ago...

 the White Trout Lilies sprung up everywhere...

making for a lovely walk.

My orchid has several more blooms as well...

although it's inside it seems to know...

Spring is the time to produce.

I've produced a few meals for Herhusband and myself...

Salmon Shortcakes, Pasta and Rice dishes...

Pizza, Soups and Salads.

Smoothies, Zucchini Bread, Peach Desserts...

Sourdough Bread and Marbelized Cake

were enjoyed by us and the grandkids..

The "Springiest" production though is the Daffodils

that brighten the front yard...

last year's garlic and parsley coming up again...

and a little bowl of Hens and Chicks from my daughter.

Spring is Producing!

 I wasn't going to mention this...
but might as well...
I'm a product of Spring too.
Tomorrow is my Birthday...
...don't ask which one though!
~ ♥ Wanda ♥ ~

Yesterday...Today...and Last Week

Yesterday morning...this was my orchid's first bloom!

 

Yesterday morning...

...this was the view from my living room!

After two weeks of March's Spring-like weather with rain...

we woke to find the yard blanketed in snow once again.

Not very deep...but puffy and bright...

...and in the far tree...guess what was in my sight. 

~ photos enlarge ~

His form was obvious...perched up so high...

His reason for being there...I knew why.

He quietly sat viewing the snow covered field....

...searching the span...for what it might yield!

Suddenly...he flew away...

giving up...until another day.

Yesterday's snow left just as quickly too. 

Today the gazebo...was sporting Blue!

The Bluebirds returned...I knew they would.

It's Spring!!!

~ ~ ~ 

It's been nice enough for several walks through the woods.

 This creek is directly behind the house.

There are two others...one to the north and one to the south.

At least that's how I speak of them!

While walking alone last week...

I took these photos of the tree...that Alivia and I found last Spring.

It's hollow and one could actually crawl through...

"IF".....one wanted too.

These are just photos of fallen trees...

changes that take place...season to season.

On the path home...

a large log sprouting a little moss...

a hummingbird tree(?)...

a bench full of nut shells left by the squirrels...

and ornamental grass...cut back by Herhusband! 

Meals that keep us working and walking...

Baked pasta dishes...soups and salads...

Stir fries and veggie burgers. 

Spinach ravioli...veggie sausage and apples...

Oriental noodles with mushroom sauce...

Pasta with Mexican theme...

Baked potato with Greek yogurt and sun-dried tomatoes.

Peaches on pound cake...Blueberry muffins...

Greek yogurt with bananas and granola.

Poppy seed muffin with cherries and Dutch apple pie.

Desserts....help with the energy it takes...

to walk up and down...all the hills in the woods.

On this walk to the south creek...

I saw grandson Dylan with a friend far below. 

I followed them for awhile...

...then went off on my own.

Not much new that day...just more fallen trees...

some on the ground...

...some hung-up...high...

...some lay across the creek....like a small bridge.

In the creek itself...one can find

 rocks with stripes and little pyramid shapes...

spooky faces...almost like 'The Scream'...

rocks that have split and large ones under fallen logs.

A few heart shapes can always be found.

Some need a little more imagination than others.

There's five below!

Granddaughter Alivia accompanied me on a walk one day.

We walked to the creek on the north side...

and spotted a black ladybug on the south side of a tree!

~ photos enlarge ~

With Alivia...one always ends up walking 'in' the creek...

under and over fallen logs.

We found this rock lying on a log...

maybe I placed it there last Fall and forgot!

I left it...to see how long it remains.

Alivia was given a camera by her big sister...Amanda.

She took photos of things we saw...

fallen logs with strange patterns...

and foot prints of a raccoon...

while I took photos of her. 

There's not much going on in the woods just yet.

Just mostly hues of browns and grays...

except for Alivia's pink and green.

There is the occasional sunny blue sky...

and the rainy days are coaxing the green...

from the ground and fallen logs too.

 

I will soon have yellow Daffodils...

the green of Naked Ladies and Poppies in bloom!