Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Spring Solitude. #2
Good morning on this beautiful, sunny Saturday! If I only look at the trees, the sky and the sunshine, I can think of spring. If I look at the ground I think, “is this spring?” Okay, it looks somewhat like it should in very early spring, still a lot of snow around, but ground and rocks are beginning to show up. Clumps of grass and rocks are now starting to show out of the snow on the hill beside me.
But there is still a lot of snow there as well. This has to be the most snow I have seen still on the ground this late into April. When I lived in the country this would be more normal, but in town we have our own microclimate. It is milder here than it is even 5 miles out of town. This big lake helps give us this microclimate. Normally.
Although there is quite a bit of open water here on the northern portion of the lake, it is still mostly frozen. Our late spring this year is also holding back the migrating birds. A lot. There are many species that should be here in abundance now, but they are just starting to show up. Sir Henry and Lady Patricia, two more of my herring gulls, showed up yesterday afternoon. So all 5 have returned now. Plus there were 2 others flying around when I put food out for them.
Perhaps more will start to come to my feeder. That is part of spring solitude. I should be able to walk the path to the river now, but there is still too much snow and ice to consider that. Someone actually asked for more snow pictures. Amazing. So my featured image today shows part of the path to the river, covered in snow. No more snow pictures until next winter, unless we get a major snowstorm. I hope we do not. I enjoy early spring walks to the river, like these pics from last spring.
The path is always so fresh looking. Sitting by the river in early spring is amazing. That is solitude. Walking through the forest, before any leaves are out, a person can see a longer distance. Free of the clutter of houses and cars. Okay, so I am terrible. But that is solitude. Listening to the birds singing their spring songs. Mostly our year round birds, but some early migrants as well. That is solitude.
Enjoying nature, sitting under the canopy of the large pines that have been growing here for 150 years, even more for some of the largest ones. Our growing season is so short, it takes a long time to grow a large tree. Further south in 150 years these same trees would be much bigger. The bench is not there to sit on anymore, but there are a lot of rock outcroppings to sit on, or just rocks of all sizes, many just the right size to sit on. That is solitude.
But even here, sitting on my deck on a sunny morning, once it warms up a bit more, even here I can enjoy spring solitude. Birds still come, migrating birds will start to return more consistently, singing as they arrive. That is spring solitude as well. Watching those white gulls floating in the air against that vivid blue sky, that is also spring solitude, and a real pleasure. I hope you have a most wonderful weekend everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. (Praying for the people of Ukraine)
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
Beautiful photos of summer. It is great to anticipate the green leaves, open water, and the delights of summer. Here in the Far North, our sunlight is increasing rapidly but it was snowing yesterday and many other recent days. Enjoy your weekend, Steve and Muffin!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, we are still getting flurries most days yet, but it is just not warming up. And that snow is still so hard, like ice, even at 40 degrees I can still walk on it. But soon it will change, I hope. Thank you so much, have a great weekend as well!😊😺🌞☕☕
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey, STEVE! We actually had snow flurries this morning!!! Even though at ground level it was in the high 30s so nothing would stick, at one point these HUGE flakes came down for about five minutes! One of my men had some roof repair to do today, but I made him wait until the map looked like it would stay dry; and it did, but while he was up there, we got a few more smaller flakes and laughed at Kentucky’s “spring!”
Now, it’s sunny, and though going down below freezing tonight, by Tuesday we’ll be in the low 70s!
Only in Kentucky!? 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, I never thought you would see snowflakes this time of the year! For us it’s normal, we can have snowflakes, and snow on the ground even into June some years! We need some of that 70s temps to get this hard frozen snow to start melting again!😁😺☕☕🌞
LikeLiked by 1 person
Did someone steal the bench ? Looks like a very ornate bench ! Good to see some birds returning ! Sleep well Steve and Muffin 🙂😻🤔😴
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, that’s the bench I mentioned before that someone had walked away with. Yep, we are way behind on the returning birds, but at least our gulls are back now, except Rickie.😊😻🌙😴😴
LikeLike