A small flock of bluebirds were in our yard today! First spotted in the large old oak tree out front, then later in the backyard, they likely were just passing through on their way south. I saw a male checking out the bluebird house on the shagbark hickory tree, where a family lived earlier in the summer. By late afternoon, they were gone.
There were other birds - blue jays, robins, nuthatches, finches, and the ever-present sparrows. If I closed my eyes and listened to their singing and soaked up the unseasonably warm sun on my skin, it felt like spring.
Then I opened my eyes and walked around the yard, and I saw signs of spring everywhere!
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The Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa) has its 2011 buds
ready to go! |
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The Buckeye (Aesculus glabra) tree's swollen buds make it
apparent that it's ready for spring, too. |
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| Magnolia x. loebneri 'Leonard Messel' is all fuzzed up for spring! |
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Yellow scabiosa (Scabiosa ochroleuca) is blooming
like it's summer. |
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The tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) is dressed up
in magenta buds. |
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The lilacs (Syringa vulgaris 'Sensation') sit in wait for their
signal to grow. |
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The grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) are making a trial
run, but I think they're just reminding me of where they are so I
don't try to plant more bulbs there! |
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The elderberry (Sambucus racemosa 'Sutherland Gold') is nearly
bursting at the seams, ready for spring! |
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| The spinach I planted in August is providing yummy salad fixings. |
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| The yarrow (Achillea) is still blooming... |
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| ...as is the Gaillardia... |
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...and even the Offspring-of-the-Wave petunias are still going at it,
in spite of several hard frosts. |
It's the time of year when the weather can change in a heartbeat though, so these spring-like days that almost feel like summer - yet not - are not lost on me. I'm taking advantage of them by getting the gardens ready for winter and the last of the bulbs planted.
I'm also taking time to just drink it in. I close my eyes again and try to commit to memory the warm feel of the sun on my skin so that I can recall it when winter threatens to beat me down with its dreariness. Or maybe, just maybe, this really
is spring and we're going to skip winter this year. The year has already been one for the books, so why not?
You have to believe in happiness,
Or happiness never comes ...
Ah, that's the reason a bird can sing -
On his darkest day he believes in Spring.
~Douglas Malloch
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| Bluebird from earlier this year |
"Bejeweled"
