5 April …

 

 

Weather continues to refuse to behave normally (whatever normal is).

BulbsStill, the spring bulbs are doing their best to brighten the days through the winter debris …

Lilac Budsthe lilac is budding …

First Hummerand the first of the hummers has arrived.

~~~

The trip to see an optician last week was pleasant if tiring (but then at our age all daylong trips are tiring).  Nevertheless, there was a lot to keep me intrigued. 

It was overcast and foggy as we left home.  Then, as we moved north, we were in rain on and off.  A little over a mile from the summit (4,300″) the snow began.  That made for eye candy where snow was etching the lines of the rocks.  That area of I-5 shows off the cracks where the Pacific plate is slipping under the North American plate.

Then as we went down we seemed to move into Spring.  The madrone were in clear white bloom with the bright orange of their trunks showing through the glossy green of their leaves, the pear trees were on the very edge of bloom (the 64th annual Pear Blossom Festival in Medford will be this weekend), and  the plethora of greens was …

well … just provide your own over-the-top description here.

Some changes I had not noticed before caught my attention. One was an agricultural change.

Years ago a small family vineyard was started south of Ashland.  A friend and I used to stop in when we had been to a play at the Shakespeare Festival. It’s where I first tasted Gewürztraminer.  Now the valleys all around Ashland and Medford are showing new vineyards.  I guess this area is becoming the new Napa as temperatures and precipitation levels change.  Direct sale stores with tasting rooms are popping up with all the new family wineries.  Makes me think I may give wine another try.

~~~

As an aside …

I first saw these signs many years ago.  Peope

 

Other People

They are the loo signs in the Greenleaf Restaurant in Ashland.

~~~

I recently realized I hadn’t made cornbread in a long time.  So I started looking through my recipe files (note the plural) and took out all the recipes I could find.  Found one for a pie tin and one for muffin tins and two for a cast iron skillet.

I decided to use one of the skillet recipes and as a result …Cornbread

~~~

April Fool’s Day didn’t produce any new tricks.  We don’t have young children around any more … and the world offers more and more fools and tricks daily. 

Oh well …

~~~

Last weekend we took down the winter tree and put away the lights and decorations until next winter.  That part of the living room looks a bit bare, but things are showing up outdoors so we no longer look out at only whites and greys. 

Buds on the fruit trees are swelling Forced Blooms(and I have been able to bring some pruned branches into the house to force bloom) …

bulbs are pushing the first of their foliage up … and the deciduous trees and bushes are greening.

 

In addition to the eye joy, our ears are doing well too.  The sand cranes are back in the high meadow  and the Canada geese are traveling …

      haiku time …

the sound of the geese

as they fly over our heads

provides song to spring

 

Last week one of the laying hens provided a laugh-snort moment.  The hens can hear the geese as well as we can, and one morning George heard a hen make a honking call like a goose rather than the usual cackle as she came off the nest where she had just laid her egg for the day.

~~~

And finally a thought for this week …

“To love someone is to learn the song in their heart and sing it to them when they have forgotten.”

 

So … be the reason someone smiles today.

                                     … ’til next week …