A Monday meander:

Spring green and watery blue. (Marsh grasses.)

Spring drew on. . . and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that Hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brighter traces of her steps.

~ Charlotte Bronte

Heavy with blossoms.

Life and springtime are rapidly taking over here at the Wabi-Sabi Ranch.  The cherry trees and viburnum are blooming while the rest of the deciduous trees are beginning to leaf out.  The meadows and lawns are filled with small wildflowers including buttercups.  The tree pollen is flying about in great clouds of yellow, dusting just about everything.  Dandelions have bloomed and gone to seed, the seeds floating and flitting about with the wind.

Springtime in the garden.  (Textures added in Pixlr.)

The birds are chattering and singing and creating such a raucous noise that it almost hurts the ears.  Red-winged blackbirds have taken over the marsh areas, and I heard a couple of prairie warblers calling to each other this morning.  Our resident male mockingbirds are practicing all the songs they have learned (and probably adding more to their repertoire).  There is one, in particular, who likes to sit on the light post near the vegetable garden and pour his heart out.  I read that bachelor mockingbirds sing more than mated birds do, and they are more likely to sing at night, too, as they try to find a mate.

Sitting on the light post.

I wouldn’t be surprised if our guest who likes the light post takes up nocturnal serenading.  We seem to have one every year who likes to sit outside our bedroom window and show off his playlist at three or four o’clock in the morning.

Laughing gull soaring overhead.

Out by the dock, the laughing gulls fly over the water of the creek, sometimes dipping down to catch a fish.  Terrapins stick their heads up as they swim upstream, ducking back down as soon as they realize I’m sitting on the bench on the dock.  The marsh plants are beginning to green, new grasses growing tall quickly.  Every now and then a fish will leap out of the water and splash back in, leaving large ripples.  The watermen are reporting that this year will be a good year for crabbing.  Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I’ll see a crab swim by.

In the marsh.

In the woods, the light and shadows play with the small trees that will soon be hidden under the canopy.  One of the wax myrtles has died back.  I’m not sure why.  At the edge, where the woods meets the marsh, there is a line of cedar trees and in the mud nearby are otter tracks.

Maple leaves.

Real joy means immediate expansion. If we experience pure joy, immediately our heart expands. We feel that we are flying in the divine freedom-sky. The entire length and breadth of the world becomes ours, not for us to rule over, but as an expansion of our consciousness. We become reality and vastness.

~ Sri Chinmoy, The Wings of Joy: Finding Your Path to Inner Peace

A cherry tree in the woods.

A pair of eastern bluebirds have moved into the bluebird house we were gifted at Christmas.  M’s brother and his wife gave it to us.  I was thrilled to see a couple using it as it looks like such a nice place to live.  Someday I might be able to catch them near their house and show you a picture of them.

One of our resident bluebirds.

The gardens are still in need of a lot of work, but I find myself wanting to sit under the cherry tree instead, listening to the bees hum and buzz, soaking in the perfume of the blossoms, and waiting for the moon to rise and the sun to set.

Yesterday’s moon.

I reckon that’s about it from the Wabi-Sabi Ranch on this warm and beautiful Monday.  Thank you so much for stopping by and joining me on another walk to see what’s going on outside.  Let’s meet out on the dock for sunset this evening.  It’s a lovely day to sit on the bench out there and watch as the tide moves in or out.  I’m not sure where we’re at right now with the tides, somewhere between high and low or low and high.  We’ll find out when we get there.  Sunset is at 7:42 PM.  You’ll want to arrive about twenty minutes or so before that if you want to see the sun before it goes behind the trees.

Be good, be kind, be loving, be well.  Just Be.  🙂

A beautiful sunset from last week.

Today’s joys:  The scent of flowers perfuming the air; a lovely breeze rustling the grasses; a muskrat splashing into the pond; Maurice and Margaret, the garden rabbits, sitting under the cherry tree twitching their noses; time to stop and enjoy the beauty of the day.