We just heard the first whippoorwill of the year. March 21st. Early, I do believe.

Spring is magical. I'm enamored by the baby leaves, and the unfurling flower buds. These dogwood flowers are not quite ready to face the sun.

These, on the other hand, are wide open to a bright blue sky. Only a few yards separate the two trees. It's all about sunlight, my dears.

I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for a pretty plant. Pretty flowers, graceful forms, colorful foliage... that all resonates with the part of my brain that says "pull-out-your-money, honey". This yellow trillium, though, I didn't buy, didn't plant, haven't nurtured. More often now, I realize how my own efforts pale beside those of nature. How many trilliums once bloomed underneath the big houses and green grass yards and planted flower beds in this place I call home?

This grows in a ditch across from the storage place where I keep my stuff. It has been cut back by road maintenance machinery to the point of having a nice, solid, erect form that probably bears no resemblance to its natural form. Nonetheless, it hosted 2 different butterflies, lady bugs, bumble bees, honey bees, and some unidentified bees within the two minutes I stood there getting pictures.

Once upon a time I planted Mexican hair grass into a rapidly expanding bed of Lysimachia 'Creeping Jenny'. The result is showing off this year like a girl with 'good hair' wearing a cool new dress.

I'm searching for a new camera. I've finally faced the fact that I am a point and shoot, snapshot-type girl. The effort of trying to learn the DSLR has finally worn me down, after six years. So, I have an excellent, smarter-than-I-am camera for sale on Amazon, and I am reading reviews on cheaper, simpler, lighter point and shoots. So far, I'm liking a Canon SureShot and the

If you can't be inspired by the arrival of spring, you need to get outside more.