Water World

This year’s spring snake sighting was in a stream at the lovely Chanticleer Gardens.  
I thought I was looking at a water plant, roots anchored on the bottom, single strand floating in the current.  But then it disappeared and resurfaced in a nearby spot with its tiny head, the size of my pinky nail, above the water’s surface, swaying to and fro and waiting for bugs, one assumes.  I had to bend down and stoop next to the edge to try to get a picture, but the sun was bright and it was hard to even find the little bugger in my frame. 

They say there is a niche for every living thing in an ecosystem.  Well this guy (or gal) had the perfect spot to wait for lunch to happen by; a cool rushing stream with little minnows, bright green water plants, damsel flies and water striders all around.  It went  almost undetected, save one lingering listener of burbling water on a spring day.  

Spring Jam At Valley Creek

I wasn’t sure when to start the blog this spring.  Today was the day.  After a strangely balmy winter, and an unseasonable warm-up where all the forsythia, quince, daffodils, tulips, and crabapple seemed to bloom at once, we then settled into a nice brisk 50 degrees for about a month where everything stopped.  So we got to enjoy all of those flowers for several weeks.  Now we’ve had a real warm-up to 80, the trees are leafed out, and all is alive and chirping, singing, and winging. 

This afternoon I had what seemed to be a truly enchanted walk along a trail near Valley Creek.  Purple flox, wild roses in white and pink, red admiral butterflies alighting everywhere, the creek rushing and swollen from last night’s thunderstorms, two little frogs who dashed into a new mini-pond created in the upended roots of a felled giant tulip tree, (who soon resurfaced to gape at me), and a close encounter with what I call a chip-squirrel, which is actually some kind of miniature red squirrel with pointed tufted ears, a native of Pennsylvania.  The crickets were singing softly in the meadow as I neared the end of the trail, and blue jays alighted nearby, scolding me as I left the woods.

When I first entered those woods, my head was full of the computer, and jammed with worries about family and work. When I left I was filled with the sounds, smells, sights and adventures of another world.  How lucky I am to have it so close by.

This year's first spring blog is in tribute to my cousin Marvin Friedman.  He was a great artist, writer, comedian, and story and truth-teller all in one.  He left many great paintings, book and magazine illustrations, narratives of his childhood and family history, and funny, funny anecdotes.  Even though he was mostly a city-boy, he enjoyed my nature writing and occasionally wrote an inspired, improvisational, jazz- like response to my blog via email.  He will be greatly missed. 
marvinfriedman.net