Green tree, blue sky

Sky cleared.

No denying........it's spring!

Spring!

redbud tree is blooming

yellow jasmine crowns the trees

the plum is filled with blossoms

 the cattle graze on mostly brown pastures


It turned suddenly chilly and overcast this first day of spring. However, the evidence is all around us in these photos I took earlier this week.

time to plant

rototiller called back into service

it won't be big..just a few things....  ;)

tender green leaves, vivid blue sky



A few years ago we pushed the rototiller under the barn and announced that we were finished with vegetable gardening. Too hot, long drought, hard work--but gardening roots run deep and it is hard to ignore them for long.

So the rototiller had a tune up, and I bought just a  "few" seeds-----ya know--just to watch things grow.
Did I mention the hay bales for tomatoes?
Our soil has some sort of virus or fungus that kills tomato plants, and growing them in hay bales seems to work.
Ahh--so I have made the leap,

out to plant those seeds.....

Panstarrs photos

It was another perfect night to view comet Panstarrs. Sadly I don't have a camera good enough to take photos, but it was satisfying to stand under the starry sky and watch Panstarrs and the waxing crescent moon sink into the twilight.

There are many times that I really miss my recently departed brother, and this is one of them. We once had a telescope that we bought together. I would have sent this link of wonderful Panstarrs photos to him and reminded him to look in the western sky.

Panstarrs photos

a spring day and looking for comet Panstarrs

the rufous hummingbird that has been here all winter

violas 

live oaks lose their leaves at the end of winter

 comet Panstarrs (NOT my photo)


Yesterday was magnificent---bright sun, pleasant temperature, a slight March wind--and I spent the entire day outdoors working in flowerbeds.

Occasionally I would take a break and try to absorb all the sights, sounds and scents. It was sensory overload.

 
The rufous hummingbird, a species that breeds in the western United States, spent the winter with us feeding on nectar that I place in feeders for him. He is moulting now and constantly scratching his chin feathers. He should leave any day for his trek back to the northwest. I am fairly certain he spent last winter with us, too.


There are many very large live oaks on our place. They keep their green leaves through the winter, and then on a windy March day the leaves fall all at once like brown rain. The tree is only completely bare for a short time.

Last evening I finally got to view Panstarrs, the latest comet visitor. I tried for a photo, but don't have a sensitive enough camera and didn't use a tripod. But the view was spectacular and a perfect end to my day.

puttering in the pansies

 

 

 

It's a brilliant day, and I am out to putter in the pansies, well, actually mostly violas. Planted in the fall, they are just starting to crank out the flowers and should be spectacular by Easter. I am cheating a bit because these photos are from spring time past.

comet watching

 

comet Panstarrs from Terry Lovejoy in Australia


http://earthsky.org/space/comet-panstarrs-possibly-visible-to-eye-in-march-2013



Last evening was clear and was supposedly the first night that comet Panstarrs might be visible in the northern hemisphere. So my husband and I bundled up and stumbled through the dark, dodging amadillo holes--not using a flashlight because I didn't want to ruin my night vision--and scanned the western horizon for the comet.

Not yet...too low to the horizon..
But we'll keep checking. We have viewed some incredible comets from here in the past--Hayakutake, Hale Bopp, Halley's,  and others whose names I have forgotten. We even managed a few photos of Hale Bopp.

It's gonna be a great year for comets--another is due in November.

winter bites back

the bare bones of winter

the fragrant plum blossoms


I love the last days of winter when the trees show their bones even as the buds are swelling. The last few mornings have been cold again, and a freeze warning has been issued for tonight. Some of the plants that I have carried from the greenhouse will have to be returned.

But in the orchard the plum rushes on, wafting sweet incense toward me as I  finish my morning walk. It always reminds me of a little box of Japanese incense I bought in my teenage years. I would light a little stick and listen to my glass wind chimes while dreaming of traveling to far away places