A Warm and Scented Saturday Ride

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Lilacs breathing sweetness on the breeze
Apple blossom rosy pink and white
Violets blooming softly in the grass

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Thunderstorms were predicted for late Saturday through Sunday night, so I had to squeeze my weekend ride into Saturday afternoon's busy schedule. (Some of the housework was left undone, but exercise is more important, right?) The day was warm and gorgeous, with a sweet blossomy smell on the wind, and everywhere the delicate beauty of young leaves, pale gold and green and soft copper, against a deep blue sky. (It was hard to take pictures of anything else.)

Some sprays of branches reaching up to the sun:

My usual road out of town, with rolling pastures on my left.

I love the way these birch leaves filter the light.

More new leaves against the sky - maple this time.

A leafy avenue of trees. After snapping this, my camera beeps and flashes "Memory Card Full". As if on cue, a large wild tom turkey bursts out of the trees on my left and runs across the road in front of me. (The one that got away. When will I learn to clear out my old pictures on a more regular basis?)

The favourite bend in the road. (I don't know why I like this curve so much. I think it's the trees on the right.)

A bit further down, I pass a rather handsome crow perched in a bare (tornado-damaged) tree. He doesn't mind my snapping him on the fly, but when I turn around and stop to get a better shot, he immediately flies away. A bashful fellow.

At the next corner I spy a wild apple tree in full bloom.

We've had some frosty nights this past week, and some of the blossoms are a bit rusty, but I'm glad to see they've survived.

The buds are a lovely shade of rose.

Off to the south, the air is beginning to thicken near the horizon as the threatened thunderstorms approach.

Around a few corners, a large wild lilac bush stands at the edge of the fields. Thanks to the heat wave of March, the lilacs are weeks ahead of schedule this year. (They usually bloom in May.)

Gosh, I love these flowers. They're improbably beautiful, and their scent is beyond description.

A fountain of beauty against the spring sky.

Violets bloom quietly all around in the grass beneath the lilac bush. Lilacs and violets - what a lovely phrase.

Some miles further on, I pass a row of flowering crab which someone has planted on the far edge of their property. These trees are blossoming all over right now, in clouds of white or pink or red. (Most of them are in town where I don't like to take pictures.)

I gingerly pick my way through the ditch (which is full of nettle clumps) to get a closer shot of this beauty. Doesn't it look like something out of a fairy tale? Now that I think of it, spring itself has a rather fairy-tale quality - there's something of the miraculous about it.

Time is short today, so I hurry for home, only stopping for a quick shot of these tent caterpillars. They build their tents in the crooks of branches and the hungry caterpillars often strip the tree of leaves later in the season.

The tents are full of tiny swarming dots which I suppose must be the immature caterpillars.

One last glimpse of the painterly clouds, then home and the rest of Saturday's work...

...leaving me free spend a rainy Sunday with yarn and hook (and tea and scones).

A very good ride, though short.

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