RAVISHED BY VIOLETS!

Right now my yard is a riot of violets. Thousands of 'em, all a'bloom! 

Yes, violets are invasive, but ravishingly so. Neither ugly nor harmful, just merely prolific. Common wildflowers which are uncommonly comely. 

Every April I await their coming. Violets signal spring—and to my mind are all the more dear for this vernal connection. They are fundamental to the burgeoning season. I welcome their lovely purple-blue invasion.  

So ravish me…please! I truly don't mind. 

WOOD DUCKS

A lot of waterfowl enthusiasts claim a drake wood duck is hands-down the handsomest of all American ducks. In fact, many birders place a male woodie near the top of the list as one of our two or three prettiest birds, regardless of category.

I don't know if I'd go that far—our perception of what constitutes beauty being such a fundamentally subjective call. But I'll agree that a male wood duck in full regalia is astonishingly colorful—perhaps even gaudy…a feathered rainbow who seems to know he's elegantly imposing as he paddles in stately splendor along the edge of an April stream.

The above photo certainly doesn't do justice to this striking fellow. Not enough "reach" with my 300mm telephoto to properly fill the frame. But the best I could manage during the minute or so it took for the pair (note the far less colorful hen swimming a few yards to his rear) to cruise past the cottage near the island's tangled bank. 

One of the things I look forward to every spring is watching pairs of wood ducks on the river. Alert and easily spooked, they aren't the easiest birds to photograph—and the truth is, I've never really tried. Maybe this year I'll make doing so a project. I'd like to be able to post a really day shot. The gorgeous woodie deserves a more worthy portrait of his royal attire.      

SPRING FEVER

It's sunny here today. Which makes it the second sunny day in a row! I believe this sets a record for the month! 

Various weather intelligentsia claim we'll reach a blistering mid-60˚s high! Moreover, they predict even warmer weather for tomorrow and fo several days thereafter.

I'm trying to not get my hopes up too much…but  could April finally be coming around to acting and feeling like spring?

Apparently the birds and squirrels think so—at least they seem inordinately energetic this morning. 

The resident pair of Canada geese have been flying up and down the the river, honking full-volume to beat the band.

Nuthatches, cardinals, bluejays—practically the whole feathered host of dooryard regulars—have been working the seed feeders and the cracked corn I scattered out earlier. 

And the squirrels, either the Silly Seven or Nutty Nine (frenzied bushytails being difficult to count) are dashing about, chasing one another, leaping through treetops, and occasionally thundering across the roof like deranged buffalo.

Yup. Spring fever has indeed afflicted everyone—myself included. I awoke in a mood of constructive inspiration. So overcome, in fact, that I'm now fixing to head to Lowe's and procure materials for a backsplash and wall covering for the area over the kitchen sink. 

Will wonders never cease! 

AN "OH MY!" SKY

Spectacular sunsets are not regular occurrences here along the river. Oh, we have the occasional gaudy display. But because we're located in the lower part of the landscape (rivers don't flow on hilltops, you know) we're generally below the best view of any final dusk lightshow. 

Sometimes, though, the Master Painter throws up a sunset so spectacular and all-encompassing that even us folks in the bottom of the barrel can be properly awed…and last night's offering was one.

The photo doesn't come close to doing it justice. Not in color-range, vivid intensity, and knock-your-socks-off wow-factor. A pathetic attempt at best. You really had to be there! 

Moreover, it was one of those wrap-around, everywhere sunsets where the spectacle wasn't located only in the sky's western quadrant, but splashed from one horizon to the next—north, south, east, and west. Fiery colors which drenched the full 360˚ canopy. All the light, all the sky, suffused with yellow-pink-orange-lavender and a thousand hues in between, and here and there, just for artistic contrast, intermittently laced with streaks of glowing turquoise. 

A genuine "Oh, my!" sky.

     

WHERE'S SPRING?

Another weekend morning…and another morning landscape white with snow. Snow which fell during the night and continues to fall. And of course, the concurrent cold temperature that goes with it—26˚F when I checked earlier, with the day's predicted high to reach only 38˚F.

This is getting to be an unnecessary and unwelcome habit. As much disheartening as it is annoying. Where's spring?

Admittedly, it isn't much of a snow as snows in Ohio go. Probably less than an inch, though it's currently snowing more at this very moment—a fine sifting blizzard, swirling about thick and furious, so perhaps the grand total has yet to be determined. 

But depth isn't really the issue. The problem is timing, season, and our collective expectations. We all want and expect green, but we keep getting white! Where was this snow—paltry though it is—back in January or February, or even March? But April? Sheesh! Why decided to show up now!

And really…temps in the mid-20s˚F? Come on! After all those lovely near-70˚F and above days served up during the year's first three months, why turn wintry now that we've rounded the corner into this first full month of spring? Such shoddy behavior is simply unacceptable. Who offended the weather gods?

As someone on Facebook said, rather succinctly: "Go home, April…you're drunk!" 

CHILLED AND TRUCKLESS

Another cold spring day. The current temperature is a chilly 27˚F. Plus a dusting of snow arrived during the night.

Not our usual April weather! The violets, daffodils and tulips are looking pretty wilted. Luckily most of the latter have not yet bloomed. 

Still, today is more congenial than recent offerings. There's no appreciable wind. Skies are blue and clear—not a cloud in sight. And best of all, a beaming-bright sun affords a marked psychological improvement over yesterday, which was cold, windy, damp, and darkly overcast.

On the down side, my pickup is in the repair shop. I have no doubt it's affliction will turn out to be expensive…the cost of which, if my history regarding such matters holds true, will doubtless consume every penny of the recent tax refund check. I just wish I knew how these nefarious cosmic forces always seem to know the exact balance in my bank account?

In the meantime I'm temporarily grounded. No wheels, no mobility, no running up the road to ramble for an hour or two along a nearby trail—checking on birds and wildflowers and the burgeoning greenery, while keeping a much-needed vernal tryst with a favorite woodland.

Huh. I suppose I'll just have to bide my time and do some actual work. 

     

  

APRIL SNOW

What a difference a week makes!

Last Sunday I got up to bright blue skies and almost balmy temperatures. Indeed, the midday high exceeded 70˚F. As perfect a spring day, and as perfect an Easter morning, as anyone could wish.

This Sunday morning I arose to find the ground white with snow. Snow! Geeze! And cold—26˚F last time I checked. Brrrr! I immediately built a fire in the woodstove. 

Of course my best friend Frank (God, how I miss him!) used to say that spring hereabouts never really gets settled in until you'd seen snow on the forsythia blooms. Well my forsythia is a yellow riot, scads of bright gold flowers on every arching branch—and the ground below them is fairly covered with snow, somewhere between a dusting and a skiff.

As usual, my dear old pal was right.