Country Scenes at and near Home

Evening light brings out reds

at home around our yard.

Cherry blossoms speak of fruit to come;

dandelion seeds tell of flowers past.

Bright Sun and Color Are Irresistible in the Cherry Orchards

Dandelions add so much,

attracting bees

and camera eyes.

But really, it's all about the cherry blossoms.

Experimentation with Plum Blossoms

This Morning, the Ferns!

Busman's Day Off

My drawing class at the University Center wasn't starting until 3:30, and David and I got to town over an hour early, giving us time to have coffee at an outside table on Front Street, enjoying the sunshine, watching strangers go by, and generally soaking in a gorgeous day.

Yellow Flowers -- in Color and Then in Black-and-White

Taking a drawing class and working in charcoal have got me thinking more and more about dark and light, so I wondered what these bright yellow flowers would look like drained of their color. Below is the answer.

Into the Woods We Go

I couldn't decide which, 

so I've uploaded them all, 

mundane and marvelous alike.

Trillium

Big picture

Trillium and bellwort

Lovely bellwort, a favorite of mine

Sarah explores with her nose

Oops! Mistake -- but kind of cool....

Bellwort with Dutchman's breeches in foreground

Sarah sniffing again, up close this time

Dutchman's breeches

Trillium up close

Forest of wildflowers

Morning sun on east side of tree trunks

more

Pretty little clump

Old dead apple tree I drew a year ago winter when it had snow on its branches

Shouts and Whispers

The fields shout loudly their Irish green. Treetops whisper softly, hushes, hints and promises of more green to come.

The Woods in Spring -- No Better Place to Be

Can You See the First Hint of Buds?

We Live in Two-Seasons Country

I don't mean what you might think I mean. I'm not saying that northern Michigan has only two seasons, Winter and Company (or Winter and Bad Sledding). What occurred to me this morning is that while we do have at least four seasons -- and I often think we have several more -- we don't have them separately. This morning, for instance, while trillium are springing up in the woods (lots of leeks and spring beauties, too), almost ready to unfurl their blossoms -- flowers a sure sign of spring -- winter lingers on in the Manitou Passage and on east- and south-facing wooded slopes. Winter and/or spring: wing and sprint?

Manitou Passage, 5/6/2014

Winter Ice, Spring Birds, Country Views

On Saturday, May 3, tired as you may be of these frigid winter images, there was still plenty of ice out in the Manitou Passage. Only a little way inland, however, birds activity spoke of spring --  a male mallard on a temporary spring pond in Leelanau Township and a pair of common mergansers on Shalda Creek down in the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore.

Flowers are popping out, too, both indoors and out. The little branches of plum brought into the house after my belated pruning of the original plum tree burst into bloom on Sunday morning. As for the chinodoxa, I have some at home, and it's one of my very favorite spring garden flowers, the deep blue reminding me of blue glass, but these particular flowers are not mine but a clump in front of Trish's Dishes in Leland, formerly the home of Stone House Bread.

Yes, the color has been doctored on the two country views below. Both views are along a lovely curve that always pulls my truck over to the side of the road. Early evening on Saturday the prospect was enhanced by a low bank of dark clouds over distant hills.