Wonderful Wednesday

You probably think that I have fallen off the planet.  No, the opposite is true. I have been out in the garden working like a Trojan.  My Dearly Beloved has been driven by this warmer than usual March weather and we have been doing our weeding/mulching. Yes, 6 truck loads of mulch have been applied so far. That means that all beds that have been mulched have also been weeded.  Bushes moved and trimmed.  Even Luna thinks there has been just too much outside activity. It is difficult to keep up.

I am so pleased with everything so far.  I mean how can you even be angry with the henbit and dandelions that are popping up everywhere when you know that it means warm weather is on its way.
The later hellebores are now blooming. Red Lady is blooming for the first time.  I think she is going to be great in a few years when she fills out more.

The freckled helleores are one of my favorites though.

Another favorite of spring is the wild flower Spring Beauty. Of course it lives up to its name especially when they are well established in a lawn or flower bed and they look like a pink carpet. Gail wrote a beautiful post about these Spring Beauties as her Wildflower Wednesday post. I think you would enjoy reading it if you pop over here.

It is just marvelous to have so many colors in the garden now.

The daffodils cover most hues of yellow.

Then of course the crocus want to get into the act.

And what would spring be without a few tulips.  We are talking few here too. I must put them on my list for next fall. These little beauties used to be about a foot tall.  Now they barely peek over the grass.

I hope you all have been able to be out in the garden some this spring. I can say it is a delightful antedote to a long hard winter. I hope there are lots of promise in your garden now that spring has arrived.

What is showing promise in your garden now?

Winter Walk

It was such a gorgeous winter morning we couldn't wait to get out to the park for our walk. However when we came to the road we usually take to get to the park we realized that it might be something of an adventure. The Wabash river is very high now. It had been over the county road. The field was flooded and frozen. Up the road a little further you can see that the river is into some of the nice cabins that line this side of the Wabash. This is not an unusual occurance but it is for this time of year.

At this cross over for the farmers to get to their field you can see that the geeese and a few mallards took advantage of what the receding waters had deposited in the field.

At the park it wasn't any better. This road had been covered by water. The little creek that runs through here has been turned into an oxbow. Luna just couldn't figure out why we weren't going on the usual path. The ice was cracking and popping as the water was receding making her very curious as to what was happening. After all she couldn't see anything. I probablylooked just like her when I was listening to the glacier move. Such an eerie sound. Of course this popping and cracking was not near as loud and mournful as the glacier. The glaciers sound sad. The river on the other hand sounds happy and energetic.

Oh yes Mom, I see why we can't go on our ususal path. The bridge is under water. We call this bridge the Phoebe bridge. An Eastern Phoebe nests under here every spring. I hope the river gets this out of its system before the Phoebe returns. The spring rains can almost be as cruel.
That's ok Mom, I don't mind taking the high path for a change. This park has several trails that lead around the rolling hills.

I can't help but to think of the song 'Stairway to heaven' when we come to these steps. They are quite steep and with the sun shining so bright this morning it surely seemed so. I hope you all are enjoying this weekend. We sure are.

I want to thank my DB for taking so many pictures today. I didn't use them all but could have. We also saw the first leaves of Spring Beauties Claytonia virginica and Rue-Anemone Anemonella thalictroides. Not quite worth a picture but it made me feel good to see them because it made me think spring can't be so far away.