Spring and things...

 Spring comes slowly this far north. To me, this makes it all that much sweeter. I found this little hyacinth braving the still-chill air in the side garden yesterday. It has sprouted unbidden next to the vintage scythe that molders there. 

My sister, not far from us in New Hampshire, reports that the forsythia (the well-known bush that blooms brilliant yellow with early blossoms promising warmer days) is almost gone by. I wandered out to check on mine. 

It is just barely beginning to bud. 

My neighbor just up the road reports that no daffodils are blooming at their house yet. I have a few, with more still waiting in the wings. 

While taking pictures, I heard a familiar, annoying chuckle. 

3 or 4 gulls have been hanging around here for the past few months. We are 15 miles from the ocean, and I am not sure why the gulls find my place attractive, except that I feed a small flock of crows and a couple of ravens here. This week I saw the gulls chasing one of my crows off, away from its breakfast. I hope the gulls tire of my roof and chimney and head to the shore soon. 

A couple of years ago, Rachel's father-in-law brought them the Steiff teddy bear that had belonged to his mother. It is approximately 100 years old. The bear has been staying with us because they lived in a tiny apartment and have cats that tend to bother things they shouldn't. Yesterday, he visited The Owlett and brought her a Steiff bear of her very own. She was enchanted with it. I took this picture of the two bears, 100 years apart, waiting for the Owlett to be old enough to play with them in earnest. 

Late last summer, Chris and I made a dream come true.  We bought the parcel of land that adjoins our property. In my heart, this piece of meadow has always been mine, but in reality, it belonged (at first) to someone who lived away and never visited and then to new neighbors who bought it and built a vacation home down the road from us. We became friendly, and they very nicely let us graze our animals there for years. We expressed an interest in buying this small section of their land if they ever wanted to sell it, and last year they told us they did. It took us about 30 seconds to decide it was a deal we could not resist. When we bought our house, it came with two acres of land, and now we own a whisker under 5. Today we walked up and did some exploring. There is a meadow, a young stand of pine trees, and some older woods as well. This time of year, there is even a brook that rushes over boulders, chanting the happiest of songs. 

We want to cut down a bunch of the young pines to reclaim the meadow they are taking over, and today made our first effort, cutting 15 or so of them and hauling them to the burn pile. It is a bit of a daunting project but working together, we should be able to make good progress. Here is the view from the tree line, looking back to our home. The brook is behind me, singing. My heart is, too.