Spring is a miracle! Just a few weeks ago we had snow on the ground, and I was writing winter haiku!

The ewes were grazing peacefully this morning while their lambs ran and jumped and whirled in the air all around them like little white dervishes. The gentle wind got them going, dashing first one way, then another, then all of them racing completely around the pasture. They've grown so quickly!

We took a walk at noon today, the dogs and I. It's sunny and dry; the wind is blowing gently, and the air is soft and warm. We could have flown a kite in the field today (I dream of flying one later), but once we reach the bottomland, the trees block the wind and it feels almost hot.

The early woodland flowers are in full bloom! Bluebells are a gently moving sea of blue under the trees along the river. In the open areas, spring beauties are so thick we seem to be walking through snowdrifts of pinkish white flowers. Buttercups stand above their dense green foliage, and delicate toothwort nod gently  here and there among the spring beauties and buttercups.

We gradually walk up a gentle, south-facing slope covered with a turf of trout lily about to bloom, thick leaves mottled green and brown, . Here and there, at the base of certain hardwoods, are large colonies of mayapple with trillium scattered throughout. Red trillium (trillium recurvatum) are tall and elegant with flowers the color of a rich Bordeaux.The leaves of bloodroot, blossoms two or three days gone, are at the base of many of the trees, and a first for me--several jack-in-the-pulpits have unfurled and risen among the mayapples.

As we walk through the upland forest, spring beauties carpet the ground, smooth Solomon's seal is scattered generously throughout, and we even spot a few rue anemones. Lots of gooseberry, black raspberry, and blackberry canes promise sweet fruit for those who would dare their thorns, and we see tall blue phlox as we leave the woods for home.