Glad that you enjoyed!Thank you.

This is my annual spring post!

Thank you . The ywill be very tasty in August, a nice sun warmed outdoor snack to pick.

Tomato plants started in peat pellets enjoy the sunshine directed at them daily at my windows ,which is a yearlyspring activity of mine.

The first is a beautiful duck photo

migrating birds are returning to Bird Alley

Another promising sign of spring. The American Goldfinch are yellowing up! Their dull yellowish browns are becoming a brighter yellow!

Thank you for your comment photo.

At this time of year we often find Ladybugs crawling up the window pane of our southwest facing windows!

Welcome Spring
Oh Happy Day! The first day of spring! Good bye winter, I am not sorry to see you go although your presence the last few days has been gentle. My apologies to those who have read this before. I wrote this several springs ago but it has become my welcome acknowledgement to this delightful season every since.


Personifications of Spring
spring whispered and I listened

as trees swung their bare branches in welcome

pussy willows basked in warm sunlight

lulled by blended sounds of mating melodies

singing ageless songs of hopeful renewal

spring sighed and I watched

as melting snow created lawn ponds

awakened roots in the moist earth

quenched their frozen winter thirst

and yearned to stretch their green shoots upward

spring shouted and I felt its power

as disintegrating river ice abandoned its frozen grasp

pelting rains and furious winds spurned slothful winter

and rivers swelled their banks with prideful freedom

while egg laden fish dreamed of journeying home

spring returned today and I smiled

and was content

Pussy Willows basking in the sunlight


green shoots realeasd from their frozen grasp


disintegrating river ice


road closed water over the road

Recent returns and arrivals have been slow around here Judy! We have snow and rain here today and I didn't get out today. Thanks for your post, I had wondered how you had made out.

Continuing on with my daily search this week for returning ducks.I didn't find any on Thursday but yesterday afternoon turned up an unexpected find. It was a male Common Goldeneye! An outstanding feature of this species is the white circle on its face. The duck is very small in my first photo but I was sitting in my car far above the river , which was down below. I was using my 400mm lens and hadn't seen the white facial dot until I downloaded the picture. It was a lovely surprise! Hurray!! Look what I found! The second Goldeneye picture is from my archives to show you what the duck looks like up close. I shall go out looking for ducks again today and hopefully will find some more. This has been my daily routine for the past few years at this time of year and I always enjoy my search and it is often rewarding. Thank you Judy for this topic as it fits my yearly activity so well this week.

Soon,but we still have a lot of ice in the river and ponds. We need field ponds to attract the ducks, meaning melted snow to pool in the fields!It needs to warm up a bit yet!

Sounds like a plan.The ducks have been slow in returning. I have only seen two species so far! I

They were late getting here as I only saw my first one on Monday! Thankfully Sunday is the first day of spring so maybe some will find their way to Quebec by then?I shall try to send them along today and I shall shout at them,”Vamoose,outta here,Go find Jim in Quebec” Thanks for your interest!