Life In The North Country

Just when I thought all the different varieties of Daffodils had bloomed, these small white flowers opened:

They look much like orchids and are perhaps my favorites of all the varieties:

Alongside a nearby road, I saw large, wet areas filled with Marsh Marigolds in bloom:

This road is rife with wildflowers every spring, so I make sure to pay it a visit. Here's a close-up of a Marsh Marigold plant:

And on the same road each spring, I also find huge quantities of White Trilliums, officially and accurately called Large-Flowered Trilliums:

They are spectacular, including some with a pinkish hue:

The town or county had mowed the edge of the road this year, yet there was still a band of Trilliums along the side and beyond the mowed strip, creating quite a spectacular display:

Back home in my lawn, Wild Strawberries began to bloom in abundance:

A new species of Violet appeared in my lawn, this one with smaller leaves and pale, smaller flowers. I went to my field guide to identify it but was unable to do so. I'll just call them the small, pale Violet:

Winthrop, New York is so small that it doesn't qualify as either a town or village. I guess that makes it a hamlet, but a new Dollar General store just opened there and local wags call it "The Winthrop Mall." I noticed the other day that they have several designated parking spaces for Amish buggies, complete with horse manure (AKA road apples) to prove they are being used:

The fantail pigeons are happy and healthy. They still have not produced babies, but I have all the birds I need and am not anxious for more:

This lady, however, is trying to have a successful nest:

The First HIke Of The Season

My sister arrived on Sunday night and would only be here for one day, so we needed to pack as much into that one day as we could. I've become too old and lame for long hikes, but the Rutland Trail, just up the road from home, fit the bill perfectly. We loaded all five dogs into the car and drove 5 miles to the trail head:

I'm sure I don't have to describe how happy the dogs were. Not only were they going for an outdoor run, they had another person along to pay attention to them:

In fact, all five dogs were so well behaved that I never yelled at them once. It was a happy hike:

Those of you in warmer climates may find this snow shocking. The truth is that I find it shocking too, or maybe dismaying would be a better word. But it all melted shortly after we finished our hike:

The official trail is a little boring, so we turned off onto a side trail which follows Allen Brook:

And then walked down to the brook for a closer look:

Absolutely exquisite, peaceful and serene. All this only five miles from home:

Not only was Allen Brook very pretty, but the forest became dominated by old growth White Pines as we proceeded:

My sister hadn't brought a warm enough coat so she put one of my jackets over her coat. Such is life in the north country:

But we didn't go far. My ankles were already painful, so we began retracing our steps back to the car:

As always, the dogs were just as excited and happy to be returning to the car as they were to be leaving it. They don't care. Any excursion is a great joy to them:

With the gate at the road just ahead, we told the dogs to heal. That worked for all of them except Jack, who ran ahead and happily waited for us at the car: