Springy

It's been a dark sunny day today in the maritime northwest.  Spring has displayed her ability to paint a rainbow against a dark sky.  Sun-drenched trees dazzle, encrusted with glittering raindrops reflecting their prism colors as they cling to bare twigs.

Today was a day spent noticing things.  I will never take that aspect of my character for granted again.  After months spent being too busy to be present with my environment on a daily basis...I am seeing the magic again.  I have missed it.

Where did this face come from?  As soon as I ask the question, the answer comes to me.  A sprite uses the water droplets for a looking glass.  And what made me magnify this photo to even look for it?  The beaming visage invites me to open my awareness.  I've been missing too much.

Stories have been trying to get my attention today.

It's been over a year since I've written.  Life should never become too filled up doing things you do just to get by.

Since I had the camera in my hand I meandered through the yard, taking random photos.

The first thing that caught my attention was the forsythia in full bloom.  My mom had just asked me about it the other day during a phone conversation.  I could only remember seeing one sprig trying bravely to bloom.  I just assumed last summer's drought had taken it's toll on it, as it had so many other plants.  But here it is blooming magnificently.

Magic!

Tulip bulbs and Hyacinth will not survive here.  The furry ones that live under ground love those things.  I might as well be passing out candy to children.  But the daffodils...

They just keep coming.

 In fact, they're starting to spread out.

And speaking of spreading out...

Here's a flower that spreads where ever I plant it.  A welcome invasion.

I was noticing how much my front yard looks like a forest floor.  I'm sure my neighbors are horrified, but I'm very proud of it.  This is my lawn.

However, I have planted some "mistakes".  Apologies to the Hellebore plants for calling them a mistake, but they spread like a noxious weed, and I need to hone my gardening chops  if I'm going to keep them in check.  They have taken over, where there used to be alpine strawberry.  I really miss those little guys.

And another plant I rescued, struggling for life at the side of the road, was the money plant, or silver dollar as we called it when I was growing up.  I put it in my yard...it seemed like a good idea at the time.  If only my US currency would multiply as fast as the silver dollar plant.  One plant has become hundreds, and not very pretty at that.  

I have no one to blame but myself for that.

I'm afraid they choked out the native yellow wood violet that I planted there from my parent's woods before they moved.  I looked, but couldn't find any sign of that beautiful little plant.  Maybe my friend Rebbeckah has them in her woods...viola glabella.

Next, I visited the Oregon Grape.  It grows throughout my place, and I love it.  

And this showed up all over too--Indian Plum--in bloom at the moment.

Here's one I planted.  Pussy Willow given to me by my sister.  A start from my gramma's yard.  It's gotten so big, I can't even reach those little fuzzy guys.

See that?  I nearly missed seeing them.  They love this part of my yard.  The front is East facing, and dominated by a large old oak.  It's very foresty here.  The back is mostly like a field.  But the trees are moving in there too.  Cherry and little fir trees are popping up.  The trees that were already there when I moved here 15 years ago--the birch, and fruit trees--are old and kind of sickly, but as they are winding down, the little ones come in to replace them.  Lilac is being replaced by Hazel and the pink ornamental Cherry trees that were planted 20 years ago or more, are being replaced by the Bing Cherry trees that have grown wild in this neighborhood for decades.  

And it's all Nature.  I gave up trying to plant trees around here.  Only the trees that belong here can survive.  I have a row of dying arbor vitae, which were green and healthy before last summer's drought.

Having wandered around the front yard, I decided to visit the chickens.  I see them everyday, but I wanted to take pictures.

Here's Rocky.

He takes care of the flock.  Every night when I close the door to the hen house, I thank him for the Peeps and for watching the flock.  I count heads -5 peeps, 3 hens, and Rocky- and I am grateful that we got through another day without any losses, and that there are eggs in the box.

Yes, I really am that close to him.  But I'm not crazy enough to stand eyeball to eyeball with him without a fence between us.  In order to get a full picture of him, I had to stand back because whenever I get near enough to the fence to avoid having the wire in the photo, he has to be right there checking me out.  

See, even in this picture he's got his eye on me.

But what have we here?  

One of the Peeps is a Cockerel!  This is Sparky.  So far this is working out, but I don't know for how long.  My place is too small to support 2 flocks.  I love this little guy.  And he's not so little.  He's 16 weeks old today, and nearly the same size as his mom Ruby.  Of course, they all look small next to Rocky, who is twice as big as my full grown hens.  

Oh well, maybe I can manage two flocks if I have to.

But let's face it, I'd rather not.  Maybe by some miracle, Rocky will tolerate him somewhat.  Just sayin'.  Just prayin'...

Two full grown hens and two 16 week old Peeps.  Sparky and Ruby face to face.

Okay, just two more chicken pics.

Tricksy with Daffodils.  Yes, I know daffodils are poisonous.  Apparently chickens know that too, because I've never seen them eat one. 

All five Peeps are rarely together.  I'm constantly asking, "Where's number 5?" And then I see her with the hens or with Rocky.  There's always one isn't there?  The kid that just wants to hang out with the adults instead of with the other kids.  I put this picture in because I wanted to show how Sparky stands out from the others even though their coloring is almost identical.  He's had his red comb since he was about 5 weeks old.  They grow so fast.

This is Sparky back in December, leading the flock in the great escape.  They figured out how to jump up on this pallet and then how to fly over the fence--usually landing on me as I came out the back door.  You can see his red comb and even at 5 weeks, he stands out.

It'a been a really nice day today.  I didn't get ANY work done.  I need to have more days like that.  (feeding the animals doesn't really count as work, it's like feeding a myself or a family member)