first come the bloodroot

A couple of hot days in a row and everything is beginning to spring into life again. The beech still hold many of their leaves but many have fallen like a mini Fall. There are only a few roadside Trillium and I look forward to them appearing each year. On one strong stem they rise up out of no where with three leaves collapsed around the stem folded like a closed umbrella. One single flower hangs from the centre. Bloodroot is the first to really take form and we have many colonies to see. They are still emerging and remind me of bats sleeping. The double leaves, like wings, grow to form a type of protective cape around the single white flower. Further down the road there is a patch of lungwort lovingly tended by a neighbor each spring and this is probably why it continues to quietly spread under the shade of the tree canopy. I look forward to its return every year. Forsythia is near blooming and the magnolia is in full bloom. Lupine leaves are popping up as well.

The yellow house at the turn

The snow has melted even in the north facing places and with that the flow of the stream has slowed. The mud, along with the sap has dried up for another year. Many ‘unwanteds’ are predictably raising their vicious heads again ready to creep further into the woods or take root in any disturbed soil but I try not to dwell. I’ve seen worse places and worse ‘unwanteds’, I have to make peace with it.

where the stream turns