it got icy cold again, after some spring like temps in the mid 50°'s. I'm walking with a neck wrap and my knit cap in 41° drizzle...with wind.
walking is reality filled with sanity, fresh breathe shared with the trees, meditative mind wanderings.
there are beautiful tiny upside down white flowers, bursting from the wispy cluster of green leaf on the multitudes of Osoberry Berry bushes. the weedy bushes, that (of course) are the first to take the risk of opening in Spring.
At a distance, across Salmon Creek are blushing thickets of what might be Red Stem Dogwood. Clumpy fuzz of red against the entirety of later winter grey vegetation
There is an increase in the variety of bird song. The male Robins are all about business, searching worms while pecking away wet decomposing leaves in the muddy soil. Sometimes they are so focused they take no notice of me. the female Robins areare off building their nests nearby. The crows are making themselves heard in wide wind-borne circles.
Every stream, pond, rivulet, and depression of water is being grazed by native ducks for algae growth, grass, tubers or any other vegetation along the water edges. they take turns tipping head-forward into the water (to scoop up their food) leaving their round bottoms bottom-up. watching them in a group is an almost comical rhythmic bobbing water ballet.
a few Canadian Geese are visiting on their trip North and enjoying a lunch of cracked corn (provided by a passer-by) with a Nutria. I have never seen these rodents before, and at first mistook them for some kind of otter. But Nutria have that distinctive rat tail, they make tunnels in the mud along the sides of marshes. And here with plenty of provided food seem to get along with the birds.
All of this is happening in nature, while...in this country - the money system, civility, morals, and every currently sustained system of community and care is being dismantled by the worst of human nature, in the body of a few greedy autocrats. It is early days, and many hide away.
