Windy and Rainy and Cold

At least it's not snowing. (That's what we keep telling ourselves.)

Sunday was so very windy and rainy that a bike ride was out of the question. Thus it was that our intrepid blogger set out on foot, woolly hat on head and camera in pocket, to make sure that Spring hadn't changed her mind and left the area.

Singing blackbirds graced cattails and phone wires beside (and above) the marsh-around-the-corner....

A vine at the start of the trail shows promising signs of life:

An old outbuilding which stood here for decades has collapsed over the winter, taking several trees down with it:

But one of them, a box elder, still blooms valiantly (though horizontally):

Silhouette of a blossoming tree against the cloudy sky:

Up the trail, to where the Favourite Tree's outlines are softened by twiggy growth:

Turn left and cross the field, then right again to what I have mentally named the Badger Path:

Why Badger Path? A short way down this trail is a very hummocky bit of ground, where the following badger-sized openings may be observed within a 15-foot radius:

Front door, side door, back door, cellar door? Only the badger knows. (If there is a badger, that is. Some large, tunnelling animal certainly lives here.)

More signs of spring: new growth...

...and robins:

Around the corner to the prairie restoration project, where curly-leaved grasses are streaming sideways in the wind:

Speaking of grass: what a thrill, after months of winter, to see new green life springing up out of last year's dead clumps. (It helps that I don't have to mow it.) :)

Suddenly the sky darkens, and large drops begin to fall. Time to make tracks for home.

As I pass the marsh, thunder growls in the distance, but still the blackbirds sing.

One last photo, of the tree on the corner - a huge old poplar (I think) which sports some rather gorgeous crimson catkins:

Then home, where it feels awfully good to be out of the rain and wind.

At least it's not snowing! :)

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