Catching Up!

April arrives and there's so much to do outside (and I tend to be so single-minded about doing things), that I forget about blogging. So here we go to catch up. We're definitely well into spring, even though the weather has been cold, and the early flowers are up all over the place. These pictures are the very first of the spring flowers, a small patch of aconite in a neighbour's garden.


Since these bloomed, nearly a month ago, we've been through the snowdrops and crocus, and now it's time for daffodils and hyacinth. I'll post a few more pix in a day or two.

Birds continue to arrive back too. The chipping sparrows have settled in, along with the song sparrows, and the mourning dove is already sitting on eggs. Then a day or two ago I heard a brown thrasher. It has a very distinctive song, tending to sing a wide variety of phrases, but repeating each phrase once or twice. Following the direction of the song I found the thrasher, sitting at the very top of a spruce tree, singing loudly. Unfortunately, I'm not a great bird photographer, so you'll have to be content with a close-up of the aconite again.


The weather has been lousy for the 2nd half of April, cold and often rainy, even snowflakes the other day. Usually we get a lot of tree planting and garden work finished in April, but this year we've been hiding inside! I finally did get the rhubarb transplanted yesterday. Now out in the sun, I hope it will bring a better crop than it has the last few years. I triple-dug the ditch for it, filling the bottom with manure and compost, before planting the huge roots. Here's hoping it does well!