Nature

I’m not sure why I first noticed them. Compensation for my dulling vision? A momentary spat of decongestion that loosened up my ears? An entomological bumper crop mirroring the fruit season? In any case…. there they were. Or weren’t, as the case may be. Many sounds. Little to see.

Spring wildflowers are the most prominent feature in our forests at this time of the year, while cold-season weeds are most prominent in the vegetable fields. If you want to see images of the spring wildflowers in the forests of Hawthorne Valley, please go into the archive and find the blog we posted on April 30, 2011.

Winter is a great time to hone our skills in tree identification by overall shape. The shape of the trunk and the arrangements of the branches and twigs become much more prevalent when there are no leaves on the trees. And one can get a lot of pleasure out of closely observing and learning to recognize the patterns created by a tree silhouette against the clear blue winter sky…