Wordless Wednesday
Tag Archives: Spring
A glimmer of possibility
Wednesday afternoon the sun came out and temperatures rose into the 50s F (10s C). The snow began to melt, birds were singing, and spring felt within reach.
Little Penny, experiencing her first spring day, was ecstatic. And, because she wanted to be outside exploring her yard, she began to ask to go outside.
And just like that a corner has been rounded in our potty training effort.
Wednesday afternoon she began going to the back door and whining softly. Once, when I didn’t move fast enough to suit her, she pawed at the door.
I’m pretty ecstatic too.
We’ve gone a whole day without a potty accident in the house. She’s napping at the moment, exhausted by all the tours of the yard, the grasses pulled, the gardens explored.
I’m grinning as I type, because I can tell she’s going to be an awesome dog.
Oh, I still miss my Katie-girl. I will always miss her, and Bonnie before her, and Daisy before Bonnie. As I walk around the yard, little Penny dancing on the end of her leash I talk to Katie.
“See your little sister, baby-girl? See how she’s running and grinning and having the best time in your yard? Isn’t she cute? She’s got so many adventures in front of her, doesn’t she, sweetie. You keep watch over us, Katie-girl, and thanks for guiding us to this little one. She’s going to be special, just like you.”
Yep, this one’s a fire cracker, all bundled up energy, bursting into zoomies at the slightest instigation, never complaining, always happy, and definitely smart.
There’s going to be some stories to tell, no doubt about it. I can’t wait to get started. I think she’s pretty amped up too.
Color in a drab world
A week ago yesterday the sun finally came out. We’d had weeks on end, it seemed, of nothing but cloudy skies, cold wind, and sleeting rain.
It is, after all, Michigan in February.
But when the sun broke through all the grey I couldn’t help but want to get out and see if I could find any color.
I went to my local Metropark, Indian Springs, because it’s close to home and the bike trail meanders through wetlands, hills and woods. Perfect for testing my spring thesis.
What spring thesis you ask? Well…I think about February around here Spring starts flexing her muscles and if you look and listen carefully you’ll know she’s right around the corner, just waiting to burst through the last bits of winter.
My husband saw a red-winged blackbird this week, though we haven’t heard them yet. If they’re here, than it’s officially spring, no matter what the skies drop on us.
Oh, to be sure, I know this winter has not slunk off into history yet. There will be more snow. More cold. More windy sleet. But on that Saturday, just eight days ago the sky was a brilliant blue, and it was warm enough take pictures without wearing gloves.
I thought you’d want to know, especially those of you even further north than me, that it won’t be long now. Nope, check your gardens, especially those near your house. You might find some hope poking up, reaching for the sun, ready to put a smile on your face.
And if not, go for a walk in woods near you and keep a sharp eye out for hints that we’re almost out of the deep freeze.
I know, I know. Every year, every single year, I go on and on about spring being near, that we’ve almost outrun the cold, and then we get slammed with a blizzard.
I know I’m being foolish (again) by believing that this year will be different.
This year we won’t have those last winter storms, when buds are opening and fruit trees are vulnerable. This year we’ll head straight into warm summer afternoons, we’ll bypass the last salt trucks and snow plows.
Yep. This is the year we jump straight into spring. I’m sure of it.
Aren’t you?
Besides the night sky
Sometimes when I go north to camp it’s with the sole purpose of getting night sky images. Those trips I don’t care much about the campground, it’s just a place to nap during the day. Mostly I care if there’s a dark sky park nearby, or at least some open sky with something interesting in the foreground.
Those trips I usually spend the days sitting around at the campground reading and nibbling on snacks that aren’t good for me. When I begin to fall asleep over my book I tuck myself into my sleeping bag and take a nap.
Sometimes that’s the best part about camping…eating, reading, napping. Repeat. I’m usually impatient for the sun to set, eager to try again for the shot I can see in my head but rarely get captured on my camera.
This trip, planned months ago, just happened to coincide with clear dark skies and no moon. So I got lucky.
During last week’s camping adventure I had company, and a more varied agenda. We were camped in a walk-in site, we were the only people camping on our loop which was wonderful and so quiet we could hear owls at night as we sat around the campfire.
OK, full disclosure. Mostly we sat around the campfire to get warm because it was stinking cold out there! Last year, on our camping trip the exact same week, we were wearing shorts. This year we were wearing long underwear, layers of sweatshirts, jackets and winter coats. I slept, the first night, wearing gloves and a hat, as well as my winter coat while in a sleeping bag and under multiple layers of blankets.
But the next day, after a night of shivering and then squealing over the Milky Way, the sun came out and we paddled down the Platt River, almost all the way out to Lake Michigan. We got out of the river at the exact location I shot the Milky Way the night before.
That made me smile.
We had the site reserved for three nights, Monday through Wednesday, but though the second night wasn’t quite as cold as the first, I still slept in all my clothes and piled towels on top of the blankets on top of the sleeping bag.
Being cold all the time can wear a camper out.
Plus the weather people said it would get warmer but we were going to get rain Wednesday afternoon, and that it would rain all day Thursday, the day we were scheduled to leave.
We decided to pack up on Wednesday morning and hightail it out of there. There’s nothing worse than packing up camp after a night of rain. Wait. In truth it’s worse to pack up camp after a full night of rain, while it continues to rain. Trust me on this.
So we abandoned ship a day early. I think I did that almost every camping trip I took last summer, and always because of rain. Rain while camping in a small tent is not that fun after the first few hours of listening to it drum on the rainfly. Rain accompanied by wind and thunder can be pretty terrifying.
Anyway, we chose to bail, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to go back. Camping in the woods without big RVs next to you is a delight.
I just hope next time it’s warm enough that I can sleep without wearing my hat and parka.
Magic
Some of you know that I’ve been taking an online photography course centered on getting images of the Milky Way. There are many many modules, but I’ve been stuck in the first set because I haven’t been able, for months, to get that first single image. And for me it was hard to go on to the next modules that talked about panoramas and stacked and stitched images when I couldn’t get the single image.
A friend and I had a camping trip scheduled for this week. It’s been exactly one year since we camped at this same campground, with it’s walk-in sites far from the world of mega RVs with their generators and large noisy families. Yes, carrying all your stuff down a wooded path to your site is a lot of work. But once again, just like last year, we were the only ones in that section of the campground, and it was heaven.
And, coincidently, this campground is located in a Bortle 2, a part of our state with less light pollution than where I live in a Bortle 4. AND the moon wouldn’t be up to interfere with finding the Milky Way. AND there was one night out of the three we’d be there that the weather folks said would be clear.
Win/win/win
According to my Planit app, the Milky Way would rise high enough to see it over the trees by 2 a.m. But my friend and I went out at midnight, after sitting around the fire all evening waiting for it to get dark, just to check out my chosen site, which was at a park at the mouth of the Platt River, where it empties into Lake Michigan.
It is a wonderful place to star gaze, but of course the Milky Way wasn’t putting in an appearance early, so we went back to the tent to take a nap.
I set my alarm for 2 a.m.
But when the alarm went off I didn’t want to crawl out of my warm(ish) sleeping bag. The temperature was hovering around 40F (4.44C) and everything in me wanted to stay in the tent and hunker down. But when would I ever again be in a dark location on a night that was clear?
So I crawled out of the tent and looked up. Stars, thousands of stars, were there, just hanging in the pine tree boughs above me. I scrambled down the path to the car and headed out to the river, smiling.
And as I carried my camera, already affixed to the tripod, around a building to the river I squealed. Because there it was….the illusive Milky Way, in all it’s glory.
And suddenly I wasn’t cold anymore. Suddenly I didn’t care that it was 2 a.m. I wasn’t worried about waking up early the next morning after being up all night so we could kayak down the river ending up at this very spot.
No, all I could think about were the stars, all I could see were the stars. And in the quiet pre-dawn hours that morning I shot images and grinned, and then just stood there in awe for a very long time. Alone in the quiet I listened to gentle waves lap the shore and watched the stars move across the sky and there was no place I’d rather be.
You’ll have to image that part on your own.
But if you ever have a moment like that you’ll know….It’s magic.
Backyard spectacular
I’m so excited by the birds in my backyard. Some come every day, no matter the weather.
Some only show themselves to me for moments…
…in all their finery.
And this one has only visited once and luckily I was standing in the window with my camera.
If I could, I’d stand all day long at my windows with the camera.
Pretty amazing.
Looking for spring
Last weekend I got to enjoy a walk in the park with my aunt. And here another weekend is approaching and I haven’t shared with you what we found.
I guess I better get cracking.
We went to Hudson Mills, a park over near Dexter Michigan, not so far from where she lives, but far enough away we don’t get there very often. It reminded me quite a lot of my favorite park, Kensington, and in fact it’s part of the same park system.
There was a paved bike/walking path, and then lots of wooded nature trails to explore. We walked some of my aunt’s favorite trails, looking for evidence of spring, especially a particular dogwood tree she enjoys every year .
Luckily for us we had sunshine and slightly warm temperatures for our walk. Perfect. These are trails she knows well, and she knew just where to look for the early wildflowers too.
We walked in the dappled shade of newly leafed trees and watched the ground intently for surprises.
You could walk right past many of these wonderful bits of spring. But if you’re vigilant, you’ll see very special things.
It was so much fun when one or the other of us found something special and explained “Look!”
There was something to see no matter where we looked.
You could spend hours wandering these nature trails any time of the year and see beautiful things.
We had such a good time walking in the woods together.
And when we headed back to the car, we ran into a goose family with one little one trying to be grown up before he or she was old enough to care.
It was a fun end to a perfect day at the park.
Can’t wait for our next one!
Wordless Wednesday
Change Is Hard 