Friday, April 1, 2011

Spring On The Race Path

White......................light green........................yellow........................light pink..............................red
lavenders...........................blue...................frogs croaking.....................birds are singing..................brisk March winds...........................seeing kids practicing baseball.........kites are being bought................baby chicks.......................new born calves...........................planting of early Spring Gardens...........smell of fresh tilled soil...........................kids asking, is it time to go barefoot................Spring Is Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The many shades of green, all sticking together like the green on a painter's palette. Mix together warmer weather, flowers blooming, trees budding, birds on the move and the shedding of your coat and you have a recipe for Spring.
I kneel down and take this picture. This is where all the little fairies live. It is a wonderland and as you drift further into it, there are so many little worlds to be created. There is a grove of new pines, with a bed of pine needles on the ground...the perfect place to turn into your own little private sanctuary, which I plan to do. The fairies are more than happy to share it with me. Look real closely and you will see them and hear them...take my word....you will and it will make you smile.
Tall and proud is this Sweetgum tree and it likes it's home by the old feed barn and it is happy to have a friend close by. You see....this cedar tree and sweetgum tree have stood together for many years keeping watch of the old barn. They have waved back in forth in high winds, been weighted down by snow and ice and they hold their ground. At times, before they got so big, we would come along and give them a trim. They gave shelter for birds, produced a cool breeze when work was being done at the barn...they shaded the many grandchildren, who played under them and even gave Grandpa and others a place to lean upon, as they took a rest from the sun and maybe even slipped in a nap. Thank you for all your beauty.
It seems like this could have been a prop set up for a background in a movie. It is not though...it is the way mother nature let them be. I love how the two cedars, about the same size, stand as if they could have been twins. Even more fascinating and what caught my eye, was how the two pine trees leaned in as if to say...hey, look at us...the beautiful picture we make. The pines too, look as if they started their life at about the same time. They lean in towards the two cedars, as if they have been friends for a very long time and they were proud to be together and share their beauty. Mother Nature is the greatest painter of all and I am glad that God gave her a job, that she does for us all!
You say the word apple japonica and people look at you like...what is that? It's is the beautiful flower that you are looking at. Does it actually have apples...yes they do, but they are not of the eating kind, as you pick from an apple tree. These bushes have been around for a very long time.
You will probably never stop by an old home place, where one lives or it may be deserted, that you won't find one of these in bloom in the Spring. They multiply and are easy to transplant, so if you are a lover of plants and are offered one...you will not be disappointed if you take one and give it a new home.


These are wild cherry tree blossoms....so pretty. I go on a walk looking for Spring pictures to take. There is the beauty of so much around you...I suddenly caught a glimpse of white in the backside of the field...Mr. Sunshine brought my attention to it, as it was late afternoon and the sun had managed to find its way...its rays winding and following paths through the openings until it seemed to have reached its destination...shining on the beautiful white blossoms. Through the weeds, briers and tall grass, I too found my way in to take pictures. The limbs of the cherry trees had wound their way in and out of other trees in order to stretch out, so they could be touched by the sun and find its warmth, so they could perform its duty and produce these beautiful blooms.


These are peach blossoms. There are about 3 peach trees that have found a nice place to grow. They have taken up residence at the edge of the field, that backs up to my sister-in-law's yard. We have watched them grow from little seedlings and this year they are blooming in all their glory. They are such a soft beautiful shade of pink, with a variation of dark and light pink combination. The center of the blooms tend to be a deeper pink. They are so pretty and you can't help but smile when you see them and I have to get up close to the trees every time, so I can get close to their beauty.

Oh, and we can't forget the beautiful yellow flowering forsythia...you can plant one bush of forsythia and before you know it....it has taken over an area, if you don't keep it trimmed or cut back. I just love to see it growing in its natural state...and what would that be...growing up and out in all directions. Reaching for the sunshine in all its yellow glory. Once the yellow blooms have fallen and blown away in the wind...there still remains behind a beautiful green bush. Some people find forsythia very aggravating, because of its tendency to spread and take root and to keep spreading out. You will see that a lot of people keep them trimmed and shaped. Just the other day I saw a couple of rows planted on both sides of a sidewalk and they had been given a round shape...rows of big yellow balls! Very pretty!!!!
Meet what I call buttercups....some may call them jonquils and I am sure they may even have another name....buttercups to me, they will always be. If you pick one and hold it under your chin and it reflects yellow, it means you like butter....just an old saying, I have heard all my life.
To me, when I see them blooming, this is the first true sign that Spring is here or on its way. I would pick a bouquet of these and take to school for the teacher. Some days we would have lots of vases of buttercups and forsythia giving color to our classroom. As my classmates would have the same idea. Sometimes there would be so many, that we would take some to the office and some to the ladies who worked in the cafeteria and Oh, I can't forget the bus drivers!!!!!!
I just love Spring on "The Race Path". I put Josie on her leash...make sure I have good batteries in the camera...cell phone in my pocket and off we go to see where we can find signs of Spring hiding. I have shared with you some pictures, that Josie and I see every day on our walk.

There are many different shades of green all about and I find it refreshing. There are the new greens that are signs of Spring and there are the greens left over from Winter and greens that we see all the time...like cedar trees, pine trees and holly trees. I am always glad for this green that is there, when all other signs of green has disappeared for the winter months.

There is the beautiful yellow of the forsythia and the daffodils. The dark pink of the apple japonica and the light pink blossoms on the peach trees. There are the white blooms on the wild cherry trees. Spring is like a kaleidescope...its many wonderful colors, that intertwine with each other and create a masterpiece of art...and each new day, you have a new spin on Spring.

I also love the picture of the big green cedar tree and the leafless Sweetgum tree, with sweetgum balls still hanging on its limbs. They both stand tall by the old feed barn. I find the two together, with the bright blue sky as their backdrop beautiful.

I love it when the white blossoms twist and turn in and out of a huge cedar tree and in one picture, it looks like the white blossoms are holding up the cedar and they are good friends and are inseparable.

I love Spring!

That's The Way I See Spring In The Making!