Boy, that’s an awkward phrase, isn’t it? A certain small percentage of the reason why metric measurements haven’t replaced “English Standard” in this country is the language, because we ‘Murrikins can’t take that much time with single words. When it finally is adopted, we’ll have “centimeters” shortened down to “semeers” within a year.
Anyway, the title refers to the idea that spring is, in fits and starts, moving forward; since we’ve dropped down to the freezing level several past nights, it’s not fully established yet, but I’m including a little color to show that indications are here, at least.
I’ve shown this flowering tree from the backyard before, and unless I’ve forgotten, I’ve still not identified it. Mostly because I’ve been as lazy as I am now (I have other projects waiting, so I’m fulfilling my obligation to the blog briefly,) and not looked it up. But these were the first blossoms peeking out, and I was in the backyard with the camera for other reasons, so I shot them.
The same may be said for the next. Perhaps.
As I said before, I had initially identified this weed as a winter aconite, but I don’t think it is now. It was all by itself in the middle of the backyard as I passed, so I stooped and shot a frame from above.
And if you look at the leaf at lower center, you’ll see the preliminary specks that indicate that the longneedle pines are starting to shed their pollen, meaning everything is going to be greenish-yellow very shortly. Many people consider this the cause of their spring allergies, but pines aren’t on the list of reactive pollens; it’s simply that something else is blooming at the same time, pollens that we can’t see, and we blame it on the highly-visible pines. I’ve already started off on that aspect myself, so I’m sympathetic. And apathetic too, but no one cares.
I’m not even going to try identifying this, except to say that it’s an iris, because we didn’t plant them and there are umpteen different varieties, but it was there, so I shot it. I’m O’Keeffing again – I’ll try and stop that. A little later.
Because I had to show this one, being the solitary blossom on my almond tree. We had three, two (no, three) years ago, and nothing ever came of them and there haven’t been any since. I should probably check and see if almonds are those type of trees that need another of the opposite sex to produce nuts…
Wow, that tree’s nine years old now.
And a mud ball.
Yes, another frog, but that’s what I’m seeing – even the raptors wheeling overhead make themselves scarce as soon as I have the long lens out. This rotund little Copes grey treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis) was visible between frosty nights, probably none too happy with this peekaboo spring and taking advantage of the daylight warmth here. This is perhaps the roundest treefrog I’ve seen, but right now I’ll credit that to conserving body heat – we’ll see if I spot it later on when it can stretch out a bit.
Onwards.