At Last

So it has finally become spring; not in a gradual warming but a sudden blast of heat which would have been notable in June. Three days of 90 degree weather, everything's opened up. The peach trees are glorious with their pink blossoms and now the quince and the cherry trees are in full bloom. My tulips are still beautiful although not all of last year's made it. It was so hot we opened the pool cover so we have a jump on that annual job. We still await the hummingbirds who must be enjoying the blossoms down south and the honey bees who are scheduled to be picked up May 9. The garden at the library is finally going to be deer and rabbit proofed so once that fence is finished, I'll have fun planting things there with the kids.I do love spring!

The Spring that almost Isn't

There is only one tree that is leafed out at our house. It is a red maple that stands in swampy water so it's ahead of the rest. I look to that tree for hope every chilly morning. I have this nagging fear that the earth is in such bad shape that one spring the leaves just won't return and the trees will really be dead. Bare trees are hard for me and the feeling of elation when they are all fully out is wonderful.I'm quite sure that it was fully leafed out this time last year.One year at Easter the minister gave a sermon with an apple branch.It was an early Easter so the branch was bare. He said hope and faith were the ability to look at the branch and see it would soon be opening up, giving blossoms and fruit. That same Easter my mother had said, "Don't bring me any plants, they just die." She could look at a hyacinth and see death. I guess the leaf doesn't fall far from the tree.

All They Ask

Spring rains have opened up the earth and the chickens are in heaven. All they ask is the chance to scratch and dig and find a bug or a worm.