Croci Iridaceae

 

"Did you hear a Phoebe?"

Here's a poem from David Budbill to celebrate the Vernal Equinox... 

March

Rain-glaze on snow. Mud and ice and snow.
Coyotes feed themselves on gaunt dreams of spring. Then
what comes slowly suddenly he sees.

Light hovers longer in the southern sky.
Brooks uncover themselves. Alders redden.
Grosbeaks' beaks turn green. Chickadee finds the song
he lost last November, and blue jay abandons
argument and gluttony. He cranes his neck,
bobs his mitered head; he bounces on a naked branch
crying: Spring!
But, like all winter's keepers
he speaks his dream before
he sees the fact.
Did you hear a phoebe?
And he out again and walking on the earth,
in the air, in the sun, ankle deep in mud.

David Budbill

Blooms

 Voilà des soupsçons de printemps...

Snow Drops

Along with morning cardinal-song, small harbingers of spring...

 

News of Their Return

Yesterday, they called with the good news of their return...

The Under Toad

Today's the birthday of the American-Canadian novelist, John Irving, who is best known for his novels The Cider House Rules and The World According to Garp.  It's John Irving who gave us the alert: "The Under Toad is strong today."