Happy vernal equinox

I thought it was weird that spring started today. I'm glad to find out it's not dementia setting in, but rather that the date of the equinox has changed over the years. In fact it turns out that today is still not really the right date and by definition we should have celebrated it on St. Paddy's this year.

That being said, I celebrated today by taking a really long walk. Well actually I took three short walks but they added up. It was a glorious day here and I went out the first time in the family's neighborhood. Their hawk was out front waiting for me. He cried once and shot almost straight up overhead and then swooped around in circles fairly close over the rooftops. That one is a real show off. My home birds weren't around today but I got here early enough today to walk around and check out the flora. My yard has erupted in trout lilies. They're everywhere and I also discovered the whole bank below the garden is blooming with violets, white and purple.

Meanwhile the bulbs are already moving on to tulips and hyacinths and flowering shrubs are busting out all over in the neighborhood. I love the little roadside weeds myself. The creeping charlie here has a charming purple throated flower and there's another creeper with a tiny blue blossoms the color of forget-me-nots. My favorite was finding a ribbon of the tiniest johnny jump-ups I've ever seen all along the length one yard and across the street a similar strip was forming. They were so delicate I had to crouch down to identify them. They were almost transparent in the late afternoon sun.