Spring this year is lovely, strange, and worrying. We have had a spate of warm sunny days (not unwelcome) but very little of the characteristic long rainy days. Lovely weather to be out in and I have gotten much work done outdoors. It is a portent for a dry summer and the attendant forest fires.
Mollie and I were out this morning and here is what we observed of a spring morning.
The sun rises and glazes the new spring growth…
The western white pine has become my favorite tree at least for now. It also happens to be Idaho’s state tree which I learned only after my decision to elevate to the lofty esteem that I currently hold it in. My position on the tree is its sheer beauty.
In the local woods where Mollie and I walk, the trees are dropping cones. It seemed to start with the Grand Fir but has now moved through the Douglas fir and Western White pine. (The Lodgepoles hold on more preciously to their cones.) Now Ponderosa is getting into the act.
These are a matched set in many ways. I got them both through random browsing at Bonner's Books in Bonner's Ferry Idaho. They are also from roughly about the Meiji Era of Japan (1868–1912). The Meiji era is a fascinating period of Japanese history as
Here I will collect my bird photos...