Spring Rain

April Moon

Full moon tonight. 

(Camera settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/100 of a second). 

Linked to Skywatch Friday. 

Little by Little Comes Spring

It has been one long cold spring. If it weren't for the crocuses, which started blooming several weeks ago, I may have just despaired that spring would ever come. 

I'm loving these pale blue crocuses that I tucked under a juneberry tree in the woods. 

I'm seriously behind on gardening. Between cold and frozen ground, and heavy rains, I have not yet gotten anything planted in the garden yet. The green you see poking up through this late snow, are rows of garlic and daffodils. 

The last couple of days, daffodils are finally starting to bloom. These is Tete-a-tete, a miniature early daffodil. 

A chickadee in an apple tree--photo taken today. The buds on the trees are just starting to break. This chickadee is one of pair that is building a nest in the nesting box on one of the posts of the barnyard fence. 

Little signs of Spring are so very welcome this year. 

Rainy Day Robin

Signs of Spring

Deer in the meadows....as the grass greens up, the deer come out of the woods to eat the green grass. There were eight does on the lawn this morning.

Dew sparkles in the green grass...so much more welcome than frost!

The sky blue of scilla flowers in the lawn...

A robin in the strawberry patch (which is just starting to green up). 

A row of golden daffodils light up the vegetable garden...

These snapshots were all from today. 

Sun in the Western Sky

The evening sky from a few days ago. The past couple of days have been rainy and cold. Things are very slowly greening up, and still very few flowers blooming. The rain is welcome though, as we had a serious drought last year and not much snow this winter.  

Linked to Skywatch Friday. 

Just a little chickadee

Practicing manual focus ....

Spring Goldfinch

Gold finches are slowly getting their color back. Warm weather and bright colors are late this year. 

Linked to Wild Bird Wednesday. 

Potato Blight

I stand at the kitchen sink carefully peeling tiny potatoes--

blight cut the growing season short last summer

each little marble still a tasty treasure

despite the size, dug and stored with care

because you just can't buy potatoes that taste like this

(if you've had a homegrown potato you know what I mean)

thoughts wander across continent and sea

to the place my ancestors called home

the Emerald Isle in 1849 was a land of death and tears

blight and famine swept the land

potatoes rotted in the ground
the stench of death hung heavy and cruel

in a thatched cottage a woman's work wore hands

tremble as she peels what is left of the meager crop

smoke from the peaty fire stings her eyes

starving children huddle around her

she kisses her oldest son goodbye

Lady Liberty beckons in the New York harbor-

the promise of work, dollars earned

carefully saved and sent back across the sea

to buy food and keep starvation at bay

with a handkerchief of brown bread

and a prayer to the Virgin Mother

she sends him on his way with hope.

( We are finishing up the last few of last summer's potatoes, and the seed potatoes for this summer's crop are already sliced and curing, waiting for the ground to completely thaw so I can get them in the ground. Last year's potato blight caused me read up on the Irish Potato famine--which is what brought my ancestors on my father's side to America. I hadn't realized last summer just how completely devastating the famine was, especially for the Catholic Irish poor.)

The Illusion of April

April is an illusion

her tidiness and demureness

is one grand delusion

just when you think 

you've got the earth under control

April laughs and shakes out her hair

raindrops and blossoms scatter everywhere

and nature explodes into confusion. 

I started spring clean up this past weekend and spent a good deal of time pruning, thinning, and mulching that mess that is the raspberry patch. 

The raspberry patch, all tidied up and mulched. Crossing my fingers that it will stay neat at least through the summer!

Of course the chickens believe that the straw was put down purely for their enjoyment. 

Ah, April, when you tidy up the yard and garden, lay out your garden plans, sow tiny seeds and watch them sprout while daydreaming of armloads of lovely flowers, a pantry stocked full of canned goods, and the extra freezer bursting at the seams. It is not too hot, not too cold. There is nary a weed or insect in sight, the soil is moist and light, and you just know that this is going to be the best gardening year ever. 

I enjoy the dream while it lasts, because Nature often has other plans....

Linking to Real Toads.