Wow, talk about a day with a split personality… There are clouds in the eastern half of the sky, but perfectly blue sky to the west. Yesterday’s satellite image showed the same dichotomy but the clouds were east of Galveston Bay. Temperatures are a bit higher today, but only a bit… It’s in the low 50s on the back porch.
Well spring has sprung, the grass is a bit greener each and every day. The wisteria is a little more purple. The yard is full of spring flowers. The azaleas out front have a bit more color each day.
I’m not seeing as many warblers, finches, sparrows, and assorted other small birds on the feeders as I was just a week ago. But I am seeing more blue jays.
It appears that the breeze has died down after days of blowing. I don’t see much action in the tree leaves and branches. I am starting to see green leaves popping out in the canopy of the trees in my remnant woods along the bayou.
I discovered something interesting the other day. It seems there is a Celtic astrology based on trees, or centered around trees, or something like that. And it turns out my birth tree is the Rowan. Which, to me, sounds very druid. The tree is commonly known as the mountain ash. But, I really like the name Rowan. I think I will try to adopt it as “my” tree… Even though I’ve always had an affinity for oaks.
Most of my life I’ve spent living under, or around, oaks… Particularly live oaks. My maternal grandfather had a nursery that specialized in live oaks. On his upper arm, my grandfather had either a scar or a birthmark shaped like a mature live oak. When he closed down his nursery to retire and moved to the country, from the country, you sold out his live oaks to the developer of Greenway plaza. This was back in the 1970s and it seems, if my memory is correct, that he sold 500 or so 5 gallon live oaks.
When we moved to this place in the ’90s it had over a dozen oaks on the property. In the time we have been here I’ve probably planted a dozen more. And that doesn’t even count the number that the squirrels have planted.
Maybe this is my little reach for immortality… planting a small slip of a tree that will be around for a hundred years or more.
Well, coffee cup is empty. So… y’all stay safe, stay healthy, and pray for the nation and the world.
Enjoy your Sunday, the first one in spring.
I found wisteria today! Best of all, I found some in a place where I could park and do some photography — right in beautiful downtown Dickinson. They do have the best vacant lots! I saw azaleas blooming, too, and of course the redbuds. And coming into Alvin on 35, where there’s that roadcut by the bank at the intersection with Hwy 6? I saw one lone little bluebonnet blooming. Soon, soon…
Linda, that underpass on the bypass has always had the first bluebonnets to bloom anywhere in the area. Come back in a week or so and the sides of that underpass will be covered… My redbud is always one of the latest to bloom in the area. It is still totally bare. It’s a different cultivar than most around here.