right over my head

for over a quarter century, i have lived in this house and walked in this yard. i take joy in noticing the small things here - i know where all the native plants are and when and how they change with the seasons. yet this is the first time i have glimpsed this phenomenon, which clearly has been going on high above my head, all this time. this abundance of yellow in a common green pine, so far away i couldn't quite make out what it was. with binoculars first and then the telephoto lens, i found these. are they pine cones? is this how they begin their formation?

every time i think i know it all, nature serendipitously displays something else curious and wondrous.

so many wishes

a huge field of dandelions, more than i've ever seen in one place, and every one of them gone to seed. imagine being there when a brisk wind comes along and all the tiny seeds fly!

new green on old

this time of year, greens in every shade and variation abound. but nowhere are they more apparent than on the evergreens - when the new growth, with its tender young sprouts, emerge from the previous year's darker green branches. the promise of spring fulfilled!

here we go again

the rising sun, through the window, through the screen, through the trees. i've been around this thing so many times now it's a bit staggering.

fingers crossed

a tricky time of year, mid-may is. frost is anticipated tonight and i do hope it doesn't come to pass. here's my favorite garden, days away from my favorite time of bloom. i sure hope it still looks this way when i get up in the morning.

gift

and it surely was.

may 12 of 12: the may flowers that april showers bring

twelve flowers from the garden and the yard. i snapped, snapped, snapped quickly so i could get out and get my hands dirty in their soil on this spectacular saturday!

bleeding heart, aptly named.

daffodils, still. these are the last ones. 

tiny with multiple flowers on each stem - my favorites.

forget-me-nots. 

started from one small plant several years back, 

they are now everywhere!

a lone johnny-jump-up. 

he's the only one i have in the whole yard. 

guess he jumped up out of nowhere!

lenten rose. not much to look at, 

but delicate and early blooming. and a wonderful name. 

i have about six of these, different varieties, different colors. 

money plant

from seed that was scattered into the woods by the yard. 

i keep waiting for these to produce real money. no such luck. 

pink phlox on the bank - and look! a tiny insect!

wild strawberries. everywhere. 

violets. also everywhere. 

white lilac. there are two huge bushes. 

they don't smell as good as purple ones

but i like them better anyway. 

white phlox. grows near the pink phlox!

some sort of yellow primrose. 

these came from an acquaintance's garden. 

not sure why i like these so much, 

but they're one of my favorites in the garden. 

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white trillium

two years ago, i planted nine white trillium plants at the edge of the woods. today, one finally flowered.

century camera

never have i seen up close a camera quite like this one. it was beautiful, all wood and shiny brass, with sections to open and knobs to adjust, sitting atop an elegant tripod with expandable wooden legs held taut by three brass chains. on the bench next to the camera, a box full of old film plates, framed in wood, and the bulb the photographer squeezed when he was ready to record his subject. studying the camera led me to wonder what sorts of pictures it had taken, what events it had seen, what formal portraits it had captured, and of whom, and for what long ago occasion.

birdless

from my window, the pink of the crabapple blossoms compliments the mottled colors on the birdhouse the little girl made me for christmas. it's been hanging for a few weeks now and, while i never really expected an occupant, i secretly hoped some little someone might call the place home. maybe it's just to early in the season.