Jack’s Walk

It is a dreary, rainy day here and tomorrow is scheduled to be the same. Overall, this has been a much wetter spring than we’re used to and at this point I think the growing things would rather have sunshine. I would, too. Jack and I did manage to get to the park before the heavy rain started and we saw our first goslings of the year, but mamas and papas were closely on guard so we kept our distance. It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though. We did find these beautiful trees in blossom and they lit up my day. I’m not sure what they are. They look like cherry blossoms, but I couldn’t find anything to identify them. They were planted a few years ago and this is the first time I’ve seen flowers. To be honest, I’ve mostly ignored them until now. The light in the photos is grim, but I haven’t got the energy to play around and try to fix it. Even in bad light, though, they’re beautiful. I like the way the willows in the background accent the pink. I suppose this is what the parks department had in mind when they were planted and they just needed time to grow up a bit.

Jack’s Walk

The trout lilies are open! Everywhere you look the forest floor is speckled with their bright and cheerful yellow flowers. I’m sorry to report, though, that the white trilliums are still not open. There are lots of them around, but I couldn’t find a single one with an open bloom. Just out of curiosity I looked back to last year’s spring photos and on May 7 (a year ago today) I shot quite a few open white trilliums. I hope that means that this year’s flowers will present themselves soon.

Flowers and Aliens

First, remember the not black tulips? Seems like the package contained two varieties, with the pink ones being earlier and the almost black ones being later. Here they finally are:

Next one is true kingcups that grow along our little creek. I wanted to get closer but then chose dry feet…

Dungbeetles are no aliens, Sorry to disappoint you. But I quite like them.

This, OTOH, is aliens. I guess at some point they are replaced every year by ordinary fern plants, but this is not something that just grows, it’s the result of extraterrestrial mingling.

Jack’s Walk

It’s been an absolutely glorious day here, full of sunshine and flowers and bees. The tulips around our neighbourhood are opening up in a riot of colour and down the street hyacinths are in full deep purple bloom. We’ve had a day and a half of sunshine and it seems that’s exactly what was needed to kick spring into gear. Yesterday morning the trees were only just a bit fuzzy, but this afternoon there are actual leaves popping out all over. It isn’t quite leaf day yet, but I think it might be tomorrow. Everything is growing so quickly. Overnight my hydrangeas sprouted leaves and I swear my grass has put on 2 or 3 inches of growth since yesterday morning. It’s like someone waved a magic wand and said ‘go, hurry.’ So imagine my surprise to arrive at the park this afternoon and find all of the tulips there still tightly closed. Oh well, it obviously isn’t their day yet.

Jack’s Walk

Jack and I went to the park this morning instead of the woods so we could check the progress of the tulips, but there’s been very little progress since the last time we checked a few days ago. A bit of sunshine might help, but there hasn’t been much of that in the past few weeks and if the forecast is to be believed 7 of the next 10 days are going to be rainy. Sigh. We really don’t need any rain. The river and creeks are running high with localized areas of flooding and the ground is soggy just about everywhere. I know it’s the season of mud, but does it have to be muddy every single bloody day? Oh well, rain or shine the flowers will bloom eventually and just to prove that point we did find heaps of open daffodils all around the duck pond. They’re making their own sunshine.

Jack’s Walk

Jack and I searched the forest today looking for open trilliums and we could only find one. It’s a red one which isn’t surprising because the red trilliums always show up first in our woods and it was in perfect condition which is surprising because the red ones seem to wither almost as soon as they bloom. There are masses of trilliums this year, but it’s been cold and damp and they’re slow to open. Last year many of them didn’t open for much the same reason so I’ve got my fingers crossed for better this year.

I did try using a mirror to take this photo, but I couldn’t make it work. It reflected too much sky and looked awful. Instead, I got down on my hands and knees as usual (hence the shaking blur) and pretended I didn’t hear those noises I made getting back up.

Jack’s Walk

This shape of this young trillium reminded me of a hummingbird.

Jack’s Walk

The trilliums are here. And there. And everywhere. They’re positively busting out all over the place and I can’t recall ever seeing this many trilliums in our little forest. It’s a bumper crop. I couldn’t find any open blooms yet, but it won’t be more than a day or two before they appear. Jack and I plan to come back tomorrow and I’m betting I’ll find a few open flowers to share with all of you.

April Light

The light in springtime is beautiful and Nightjar has taken some absolutely stunning photos to show it off.

The garden is full of Iris flowers this time of the year and I love the way Iris petals reflect light, so that’s what ended up inspiring me this month. I also couldn’t resist a shiny green garden visitor and a backlit ice plant.

[Read more…]

Jack’s Walk

Yesterday was about as perfect as a spring day can get. It was full of sunshine, the air was warm and a gentle breeze whispered through the budding trees. Jack and I took a long leisurely walk through our little forest and marveled at all the new life since our last visit. The trout lilies are sprouting all over the place, making the most of the spring light before it vanishes behind the burgeoning leaves. The mayapples and false Solomon’s seal have poked their heads up and a few trilliums have appeared here and there.

I’m talking about yesterday because today is not a nice day around here. It’s overcast, cold and threatening rain. Jack and I haven’t even gone for our walk yet, but I won’t complain because at least we don’t have snow, which they do out west. We are also not underwater which they are to the east. I’m living in a goldilocks zone and a bit of cold and damp is hardly worth mentioning. I hope none of you are living in the flooded area around Ottawa and Montreal and if you’re in an area still dealing with snow you have my sympathy.

You may notice that Jack’s Walk is posted later than usual today and that’s on purpose. Most things on the blog get posted earlier in the day (New York time) and because we have readers all over the world I’m trying to space things out a bit. Jack’s Walk will now get posted later in the afternoon. I’m always open to feedback, though, so let me know what you think.

Magnolia

I made some boasting noises about my magnolia, so just to prove that it really is an explosion of pink and white this year (it’s a youngling), I took some evening photographs, with a special dedication to Giliell. ;)

Spring Comes to the Woods

From my regular walks. Some flowers are in my garden, but the delicate clover blossoms are in the woods, where they’re grabbing the sunlight now before the trees grow their leaves.

[Read more…]

Jack’s Walk

Yesterday I forgot to attach 2 photos so here they are today, a bright yellow daffodil and a deep pink hyacinth. Jack and I have been walking around our neighbourhood this week because of the flowers. Wild flowers in the woods are a few days away from blooming, but the bulb flowers of spring are opening up all around us. So far, daffodils, hyacinth and a few crocuses are showing off, but I’m most anxious to see the tulips, especially in our local park. Every year our city changes the colour scheme and it’s always a surprise until the flowers are open. The tulips are up and in bud, but they’re taking their own sweet time to bloom. I’ve got my eye on them, though, so I’m hoping to get photos when they’re at their peak. In the meantime, Jack has started his seasonal allergy tablets so he can tolerate walking on grass without picking his feet until they bleed. He likes to walk around the blocks close to home occasionally so he can pick up his p-mail and leave his replies. It’s very important dog business.

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Jack’s Walk

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Flowers and Aliens

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April Light

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Jack’s Walk

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Magnolia

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Spring Comes to the Woods

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Jack’s Walk

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