Zooming - April 2014

There were so many pictures taken in the last month to look at….to crop for this month’s ‘zooming’ post. I finally chose some favorites: a degraded shell spiral, water droplets on leaves, uncurling leaves, crocus, hyacinths, violets, tulips, daffodils, hibiscus, deciduous magnolia, the profile of a sculpture. Enjoy the views!

Glorious Hyacinths!

The hyacinths are blooming in Maryland this week - like the hyacinths were blooming at the end of March in Dallas. They are one of my favorite flowers of spring because they are early bloomers, they smell wonderful, and they last longer than the crocus.

My mother has planted a large bucket with hyacinth bulbs and then had to push the soil out of the way to help the flower spikes emerge. I took the opportunity to take some close ups of the flowers. Enjoy the macro images below!

Winter’s Grip Waning? - March 2014

We have had some bitterly cold weather this March. It snowed last week and the temperatures were in the teens. The deer are reduced to eating the old leaves from the pile we made at the edge of the forest. This is a hungry time for the deer.

There was a hawk yesterday at the edge of the forest. I noticed it when it moved and then flew to the branches of a nearby tree. I didn’t actually see it catch anything but later that same day when I ventured out I found a substantial clump of feathers beside our house.

The ground is spongy from the recent thaw and the hyacinth bulbs are just beginning to show. They are at least a week or two behind where they were last year at this time.

As I walked around the house, the tulip poplar still looked very much as it has all winter

But the maple had noticeably enlarged buds. I’ll have to watch carefully to get a series of macro shots as the maple blooms and the leaves unfurl.