Basking In The Spring Sun

Courting housefinches

That's my plan for today.  Last night I took a little walk before supper in the waning sunlight and it was grand, a few puddles to wade or dodge, but it was the best idea I've had in a long time.  I watch the snow melting away from the thin margins of the yard, shrinking shrinking, until the only snow left is the hard-packed stuff like glacier ice melting only grudgingly under the sun's assault.  This time of year I always wish I'd shoveled the snow off of the patio throughout the winter but I never do, so the trip to the birdbath still requires boots and careful steps.  That means I'll be careful when I cross it to get to the retaining wall at the end of the yard.  That's where I'll be doing my basking later on.  There's a privacy fence close behind there so it's a warm, protected spot for an early spring perch.

When I was out topping up the birdbath this morning I heard cardinals singing their springtime songs.  Yay, birdsong!  That means it really is spring.  Hot-diggity!  I took a couple pictures but they didn't really turn out the way I'd planned.  In this one you can barely see a female cardinal high up in the tree, in the other all you see is branches because the bird flew away just as I snapped the shutter.  BUT you can see that spring is having its effect because the dark purple-red buds are swelling.  Yahoo!

 March 29--Edouard Manet, Madame Manet at Bellevue.   It was such a relief to sit in the green reflection of leaves.  The spring breeze tickled the leaves and made them whisper and squirm.  Suzanne's fingers strayed to the buttons at her throat.  She was temped to unbutton one, two, three of them to invite the weak sunshine to touch her winter skin.  Propriety kept her hands in her lap.  She watched a pair of girls, bareheaded and with their blouses unbuttoned in wide Vs, walk arm-in-arm with their heads together in close conversation.  She sat alone, knees and ankles tight together, envious of their freedom, feeling her limbs twitch to relax.

Okay, I confess that I didn't write that last night, I just dashed it off this morning.  I didn't think I was ready to go to bed when Durwood did so I promptly took a 1 1/2 hour couch nap and then went to bed at midnight, too late to write.  Crazy.  Enjoy your day.  I recommend that you play hooky if you have to be at work, at least for part of the day, it'll be too nice to miss.  I'm outta here.
--Barbara