Winter tugs and pulls and hangs on for as long as it can in these parts. March is often cruel and always fickle and April is often hesitant to “strut her stuff”. Yesterday, she did, with sunshine and warm breezes and temperatures in the eighties, inviting kites to fly and kids of all ages to revel in the season.
We’ve been watching Kezzie’s tree, a Donald Wyman crabapple, through the snow and cold of winter, fearful that it was irreparably damaged when the deer made sport with its tender bark last autumn. We fretted and cussed, Tom fenced it in, then we waited. All through the long, dark, snowy winter, we waited. Yesterday, the first tender leaves appeared and a sign of hope along with them.
We ate lunch in the Ginkgo Restaurant at the Morton Arboretum, then took a stroll around the lake where mallards preened and geese swam and turtles sunned on the warm rocks. The Daffodil Glade is ready to pop with sweeping carpets of yellow to compliment the Siberian Swill already hugging the soil, their purple flowers a welcome sight. As we drove around, we could see the emerging blooms on the forest floor and we promised to come back soon.
Here on the Cutoff, a walk-about also showed signs of renewal.
I Love your description of your walkabout. Lunch at an arboretum sounds perfect. Very little popping out yet. I wait with baited breath.
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It is a very lovely place, Teresa. We were please a few years ago to be able to use our membership card to get into the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum while visiting family near the Twin Cities.
Soon. Very soon, you will see green.
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Here in the mountains, Spring arrives slowly…but when it does, it is splendid!
Thank you for taking me along for your walk,
Mrs. M.
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I imagine it does, Mrs. M, and when it finally does, what pleasure it must bring to all there in your mountains.
You are welcome.
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What wonderful signs of Spring: it gladdens the heart – especially the fact that Kezzie’s tree is unfolding into life once again…
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“It gladdens the heart.” That is exactly how I feel. Thank you for that, Kate.
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I’m happy to hear Kezzie’s tree is getting buds and made it through the winter and the deer attack! We just had our first daffodils open in front of the house and hear that the daffodils in Ireland are already fading – they get Spring so much earlier over there.
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We were thrilled, Janet. Besides the sentimental value, it wasn’t cheap and we would hate to have to replace it because of a randy deer. ha! Isn’t exciting when those first daffodil blooms open? They should be opening all over the Morton Arboretum now.
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I’m enjoying welcoming in the first signs of Spring with you, even though we are now in the fading phase of autumn. It gives me such a sense of balance and connection between our two hemispheres to follow these posts of yours.
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I feel the same about yours, Juliet. This is such a wonderful tool we use, allowing us glimpses into other parts of the world and changing seasons, isn’t it?
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Sorry it took so long to get back to you. We have been off line.
Your walk about sounds lovely. We are just far enough south to be a little ahead. The tulip trees around town are glorious and the redbuds are starting to show off. Some of our bulb flowers are up and blooming.
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Glad to hear you’re back online, Janet.
It was. The tulip trees must be gorgeous and I can’t wait to see the redbuds blooming. Patience, Penny, patience. ha!
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