Wisps of Mist

Wisps of tranquil mist,

Nature's mysterious veil,

Shroud the lake's snow melt.

Spring Feels

It feels like spring! Wood ducks, common mergansers and mallards all returned to our neighborhood on the same day (by our observation), March 25, as if they all got the memo at the same time. It was the day after we'd first seen patches of open water on the lake, and we'd wondered how long it would be before our first waterbird sighting.

Four days after the first sojourners returned, hooded mergansers appeared, and then the striking buffleheads, too. I'm anticipating (hoping for) Loons pretty soon - my eyes are peeled, as well as my ears being pealed! That gorgeous call has been missing for too long. Alas, though, along with all these waterbirds come ... the motorboats.

A few days after the first waterbirds' appearance, we saw a muskrat swim by in front of our beach - what a lovely, warm fuzzy feeling all this activity has generated - winter's over! There have also been varying sized flocks of juncos, foraging through the leaves and twittering from the branches - an enveloping chorus of miniature voices.

My first skunk cabbage spathes are showing through the leaf litter too! They are still pretty small, but it's a start, and my closed gentians are also reviving themselves after their cold dormancy.

So much is going on! Spring is a busy time - some catkins are dropping from the trees already! Look at how colorful the seeds are inside this female quaking aspen catkin. Quite beautiful - it's like a pretty, woolly caterpillar.

As for me, I got 'roundtoit' and washed and vacuumed our stair treads - who does that? I even got my feather duster out, since the sunshine highlights the cobwebs now.

And then the sky dragon sneezed overnight :-(

Stripes, Spots, Splotches, and Spines

 

Zebra-ish stripes

Leopard-like spots

Porcupine-like spines

Giraffe-like splotches

I Take up Tumbling!

Oh dear! I took 2 tumbles to the ground 2 days in a row recently (maybe I should stay sitting on the couch). It made me contemplate Dale's recent observation that as people get older, they 'have a fall,' not 'they fell.' It's as if it happens TO them, without them being responsible for the misstep.

First, I took a silly tumble in the woods, when I inadvertently stepped onto the end of a branch with my leading foot, with the trailing foot getting snagged by the other end of it, which had lifted up. I felt as if I'd been hobbled, and went flying forward onto the ground with a stick spanning my feet (not drawn properly)!

Ouch #1

Wouldn't you know it though, I took another full-on tumble the following day, but this time, onto my hard-tiled kitchen floor when I missed the last step going down the stairs. I'm happy to say, that this time I didn't twist my ankle, nor did I break my phone, or drop any stitches from my crochet project, or bang my head on the open dishwasher door. I was pretty rattled though.

Ouch #2

I'm just not good with uneven ground anymore, not even my own (known) stairs! I'm happy to report that I didn't break anything on my body, and wasn't anywhere near as battered and bruised the next day as I'd expected to be. But I do have some lower back, hip and neck discomfort - nothing that an extra shot of whiskey can't fix!