not plums but red

 

These flowers of the plum

how red, how red they are,

how red, how red

Izen

beautiful

 We were just starting out on our morning walk when I heard it, the sound of a thrush. I think it was a wood thrush, but it might have been a hermit thrush. I haven't heard one for years. It was very reassuring.

https://youtu.be/mcR6XrnD7Yc

This is from the Macaulay library.

As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the most beautiful sounds of the summer.

transition

 Trees are leafing out, but there are still some of the spring ephemerals to be seen on forest floors.

Dutchman's Breeches

White Trillium

The wildflower season is just getting started, but from now on, most will be found along roadsides, in pastures and wet places.

Marsh Marigolds

mayflies

 Walking the crossroads over the weekend and saw some mayflies. I'm always happy to see them. My experience with mayflies is that they're like birthdays, they happen every year, but only for one day. They are even more evanescent than the spring ephemerals which are around for a couple of weeks at least. Everything about mayflies is delicate, the way they look, the way they fly.

MDC Discover Nature

They live on the bottoms of lakes and streams in the form of nymphs. At the appointed time, they rise to the surface and float along for a short time until they can take flight. Someone once described mayflies as "strawberry shortcake" for trout. The frenzied activity of trout rising to a mayfly hatch is, in and of itself, one of the phenomena from the natural world that is amazing to experience. I vividly remember the first time I saw trout feeding during a hatch. It was when I was a young boy fishing with my father in Wyoming. We were fishing with worms so it was pretty frustrating. Wikipedia says that "the German engraver Albrecht Durer included a mayfly in his 1495 engraving The Holy Family and the Mayfly to suggest a link between heaven and earth. I can't top that.

ordinary

 Grader smoothing out the rough spots from mud season on the Crossroads. Huge farm trucks hauling fertilizer on the roads. Mowing the lawn for the first time of the year, white and purple violets appearing there, along with the wild strawberries.

Winter tires to summer tires. Dandelions. Fisherman wading in a clear mountain stream.

There are no shortcuts to Heaven, only the ordinary way of ordinary things.

Vincent McNabb

Zen Page-a-Day calendar

flowers return

 Flowers and blossoms continue their return.

This includes the shad trees, one of the few blossoming trees endemic to our area.

 And rumor has it that my friend, Weezie, has returned to the north country where she belongs. Welcome back, Weezie!

Green Up Day

 Green Up Day on Saturday. 23 people came out to clean the roads. 35 degrees and snow falling. First time I've worn long johns to this event.

It was heart warming to see all the work that went into it. Ira, Vermont is a backwater. There's not much going on here. All we have is birds and flowers, mountains and rivers; and a strong sense of community.