Frances wants to be a wildlife vet when she grows up. Until recently, it was just plain vet, from her lifelong fascination with animals of all kinds. You can imagine how excited she was when I told her that “wildlife vet” is a real job, not just some pie-in-the-sky fantasy she dreamed up. On the …
Tag Archives: spring
Near IS the New Far (or: I Told You So)
I became very afraid last weekend about the potential apocalypse. There I was, going about my regular business, when I saw this giant yellow flaming ball in the sky. Then I remembered that it was something called the sun, and usually heralded a good day to spend outside. I obliged. Mostly this consisted of yard …
Look Small: Buds to Leaves
Have you ever noticed the way buds open, almost erupting as if in force of a slow-motion explosion? They don’t just open. They spill. Like milk spreading across a kitchen floor, or water boiling over a pot. Like a snake shedding a too-small skin. Most of the leaves around here are open, but a few …
Trout Lilies
(Mary Oliver) It happened that I couldn’t find in all my books more than a picture and a few words concerning the trout lily, so I shut my eyes. And let the darkness come in and roll me back. The old creek began to sing in my ears as it rolled along, like the hair …
Kneeling at Easter to the Season’s First Bloodroot
It’s Easter … and I saw the season’s first bloodroot … and I did kneel, as a matter of fact. And why not? Why shouldn’t I? I found myself thinking, even–without remembering the poem I posted last year, linked above–that if there is a god, it is a wild thing that lives in the woods. …
Trout Lilies 2010, Part I
aka Dog Tooth Violet (This for Mary G). Around here, the very first of the trout lily leaves are appearing. Look for them at the base of large tree trunks, between exposed roots, on sun-facing southern slopes. The microclimate there is just warm enough to give them a head start. They will look like tightly …
Forsythia
As promised. Again, forsythia is native to China, not Canada, but as it’s not invasive and it gives such cheery yellow blossoms at a time of year when almost everything else is still brown, I can’t help but like it. Apparently most birds and other wildlife give it a pass, so it’s not much for …
