Spring has sprung!

The woodland spring flowers planted in the shade of a hackberry tree in the yard have come up. Spring is really here. This first picture really shouts "Hooray for Spring!" as the bloodroot blossoms stretch for the sky.


Here's another bloodroot shot. The droplet of water was a challenge that I couldn't meet. Was trying to capture the natural reflection that occurs but just couldn't get the right angle or close enough without causing a shadow or crushing flowers.


This trillium amazed me with the pattern in it's leaves. I've seen hundreds, thousands of them. And never noticed this camouflage pattern before.



Notice beside the trillium is wild ginger. I always enjoyed showing them to kids while doing outdoor education walks. It gets them looking for the forest's secrets and hidden treasures.

Crunch

The accumulation of ice over the weekend had the expected effect. Branches and trees down in every yard and on every street. Our own "wildlife tree" decided to loose a limb. Right into the middle of some lawn chairs.
Tossed a line up into the tree to see what else would shake loose. The cars are be safe now. And the birds and squirrels still have a hang out.

Icey Art II

This dogwood is a bit of conflict between Diane and I. Its beauty saves it yearly. A bit of extreme pruning helps also.

Icey Art

We had some freezing rain Friday night. Chipping the ice encrusted cars Saturday morning, I wondered what works of art were created. There had to be a picture somewhere in the yard.
A couple weekends ago, we went to Lakeview Museum here in Peoria for a perhaps once in a lifetime (convenience-wise) opportunity. Anne Adams loaned 72 photographs of her father's thru March.
What would Ansel do in our yard this morning after an ice storm?
It was midafternoon when I walked around back to dump some water. The pattern of the tree rings, textures of the wood and ice, near natural black & white reminded me of my thoughts that morning. Here's my poor attempt.. Olympus D-520 digital camera. Unaltered.