The marsh marigolds are blooming, with a new riot of bright yellow appearing almost as you watch. My grandson calls them "Marshmallow Flowers" and he loves to go down to our little stream whenever he is here, to see them and to look for 'fishies'. As I walked along the bank yesterday to take pictures, I could hear frogs PLOP! into the water at my approach, but was never quick enough to catch them in action. I could see that we have some cleaning up to do, after the winter melt and runoff. There's trash in the stream, some of it new, but some from previous generations, usually hidden under the streambed and surfacing when there is an especially large rain to wash away the sand. Old bits of crockery, glass jars, rusted cans are uncovered, and require some caution when we wade in the shallow water. Rich has been tossing rocks of various sizes into the stream as we clear them from the lawn, and we're beginning to get a nice burbling sound as the water tumbles around and over them. It's quite relaxing and mesmerising to spend a few moments watching and listening. Sometimes we're lucky enough to spot a crawdad sunning himself in the shallowest parts of the stream.
The birds are nesting and calling to one another in the marsh. Yesterday I caught a glimpse of a red-winged blackbird and a week or two ago I lay in bed in the early morning and watched a robin building its nest in the walnut tree right outside my window (a friend pointed out to me that the bird was probably disdainful of my laziness!). I've been cleaning up the fallen walnuts...that job should have been done in the fall, but I was distracted by Rich's motorcycle accident and then it was too cold and snowy to get the job done. The squirrels have had plenty to eat over the winter, and they're quite fat and luxuriantly-furred this spring! The ground beneath the walnut trees is littered with walnut husks and empty shells to be raked up.
Still keeping our friend, Loren, close in thought and prayer. He passed a critical 48-hours-since-surgery mark last night and is making some small improvements. It will be a long, long path to recovery for him.
