A Spring Morning

As each season arrives I think to myself 'this is my favorite time of the year'.  Then as the season goes on I get tired of the snow or the heat or the whatever...  I guess I just love the changes of the seasons. Here I am on a spring morning.  The picture above was taken from my kitchen window - looking out at the tops of the trees in their vivid bright green foliage.

Starting out on my walk - I stop at the end of our driveway to savor the irises and flame azaleas all in full bloom.

As I walk up the hill I surprise both a squirrel and a rabbit.  Usually they dash off as soon as they sense I am near, but these must have know that I had no ill intentions and they sat pretty still.

Looking up into the sky I stood still looking at the burgeoning clouds, which threaten a sprinkle or two and the blue sky behind the clouds.

This is the time in the forest where I can actually see something through the trees as they haven't all leafed out.  Its the best time ever with new leaves, new flowers and young animals savoring this spring morning.  

"I need the seasons to live to the rhythm of rain and sun." - Sophie Marceau

Our Special Visitor

Have you ever seen a white squirrel before?  I hadn't until we moved to this area - in fact I didn't even know that there existed such a beautiful creature.  There are several tales of how this breed came to be in the area  - the one that seems to hold people's interest the most is that someone from a circus brought them to town.  I sort of like the idea that a few of these intrepid critters might have escaped from the confines of a circus side show and made their home here in these hills.

We don't regularly feed the birds - but we do have this clay tray where we place left over cereal or crackers or even some nuts - as you can see this character is dining in style.

I can't tell the difference between one or the other so I'm not sure exactly how many we have here in our yard.  I do know that there is one that visits our front yard, right outside the front door, every evening.  He loves to play in the moss, looking for seeds, acorns, etc.  We also have a very small pond there and I'm sure he stops by for a drink. I try to stay discreetly in the background so that he'll continue to come back each evening.

"The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful." - e. e. cummings