11 April, 2021 I dress to  match Evelyn’s flowers: 

I don’t have an overwhelming amount of pictures this week (or at least I didn’t when I started) – but I have lots of flowers. I photographed these purple beauties in our front bed yesterday:  

I held all my sweatshirts next to it until I found one that matched. I wore it to the river this morning. Evelyn joined us on our hike today, and she took this picture at Pony Pasture 9:32 this morning: 

Ev also has sweet smelling viburnum blooming in our backyard: 

And – since I didn’t put up a blog post last week – I have to include the most recent owl I photographed. This Barred Owl was on the branch at Pony Pasture Easter morning (4/4/2021) at 10:08: 

And since I’m putting up owls I saw but didn’t post last week, this is the final decent picture I took of a young Great horned owl from Bryan Park at 10:52 AM on Monday, March 29. Two weeks ago tomorrow: 

Evelyn says I just like to say the word “passerine.” I also like to say the word “raptor,” which is the bird I photograph most often. They sit still for much longer, so it’s easier. I got an enjoyable image of a Chipping sparrow (Spizella passerina) the week before last: 

I saw another sweet passerine this week, an Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) a few days ago: 

The first time I mentioned redbuds on this blog was precisely ten years ago tomorrow – on April 12, 2011. The name of the blog post was Lots of plants, a few animals, a Special Delivery from Amazon:. It also has a picture of Dash in a cardboard box; as I type these words, he’s snoozing in a chair in front of an open window in the living room. That blog post also has a picture of me with four dogs at Pony Pasture, including Mackey! 

Evelyn has a redbud blooming enthusiastically in our backyard. I took this one at Pony Pasture at 10:22 this morning. It’s the same one as in that decade-old blog post: 

I’ve been reading a good book recently, an antidote to my bad habit of reading too much bad news. It’s a book called Hope Matters: Why Changing the Way We Think Is Critical to Solving the Environmental Crisis by a woman named Elin Kelsey. In her author biography it says “Elin Kelsey, PhD, is a leading spokesperson, scholar and educator in the area of evidence-based hope.” I’ll reiterate that last phrase, since it’s the one that matters: “evidence-based hope.” She doesn’t write as a cheerleader or a person of prayer, she writes as a scientist. It’s a reassuring perspective. 

I was hoping to locate a Trout Lily at the river this morning. It’s a favorite Spring “ephemeral” flower of mine but I didn’t find one today. I did find Virginia Bluebells, and the mayapples are just beginning to bloom. Here’s one of each:

I hope to put up a post next week – and I hope you’ll check it out! 

Meanwhile – I have more flowers from this week I haven’t used! Flowers fade quick this time of year, so let me include them this week. The smell of these fragrant small daffodils is blowing through our open kitchen window:

Also, since I opened this blog post with purple flowers, I’ll close it with purple flowers – not quite purple enough to match my hoodie. I photographed our across-the-street neighbor’s wisteria this afternoon just before 2:00. You could hide a couple of garden sheds behind this wall of wisteria. You can smell it from two blocks away:

Have a great week, 

Jay