Another day, another year

Yesterday, we were fortunate enough to spend the afternoon with friends in the country in Northfield. We missed all the members of our family scattered around the world: in Crookston MN, in San Francisco, in Zaragoza, in Maryland. We thought of all of you with much love!I can't upload pictures yet because I left the camera case with the cable and won't get it back for a few days, but in place of the photos of spring on the farm, here is a picture of Guille in his PJs, in the spirit of spring!

After a fabulous meal prepared by the awesome Carrie and Atina, some of us took a walk around the farm, through the woods, along the ravine, noticing the tiny sprouts of green, the violets poking among through last year's dead leaves. First blooming flowers I've seen anywhere! The two geese did their job of protecting the chickens, and Carrie pointed out where one had laid an egg by the blackberry bushes. We didn't see any wild turkeys on our walk, the way we had a few years ago, but earlier in the day Guinness the dog spooked three dear who were passing near the house and they scrambled around the field with their white fluffy tails high; I think he was as surprised as the deer. Later, he came up with a deer's leg that had been gnawed on, probably by coyotes, with the hoof still attached. He carried it around proudly, and buried it in a "secret spot."
We were walking with folks who know the land and the neighbors equally well, and I'm always fascinated to hear what they notice, the stories they can tell about the branches of the neighbor's family (the short ones and the tall ones) who lived where before, what is likely to grow in one kind of soil, what plans there are for continuing to restore a meadow with native plants or to keep the neighbor's fertilizer from running off into the watershed. There was a peeping frog at a small pond that scrambled off when I tried to get closer. I'm such a city girl, I still exclaim with delight every time I can even recognize a bird: look, it's a woodpecker! a crow!

I was wearing my city boots, but the temperatures for walking were perfect: warm in the sun with a jacket, no wind, no bugs, clear views through the trees whose branches are still bare. In just a few weeks, when the trees and bushes leaf out, the views will change entirely. The next few weeks will give us the unfolding of crocus, forsythia, tulip, daffodil, peonies and lilacs. This morning when we left, the cardinal was at his post on the tree in front of the house.

Here is a wonderful time-lapse photo montage I watched yesterday to honor the spirit of the day, created by entropious88 (John Martineau) with the music of Brian Eno, one of my favorites. Thank you for sharing your creative work, John!