Back In Time

I am back home in New Hampshire for a few days, before going back to Winterberry Farm next week to continue to help with Mom's hip surgery rehab. She is doing great, including a few strolls around the kitchen without the walker and getting back to a few chores such as dishes (even those can be a joy after being chair and bed bound for 3 weeks).

Our New Hampshire neighborhood is a week or two behind western Massachusetts in terms of tree and shrub budding and flowering. Here, the red maples are just coming into full red flowers. The lilacs are well behind. A few sights and sounds are the same. The yellowish pine warbler is singing its short, somewhat slurry trill from the tops of pines where it should be. Chipping sparrows are trilling -- a trill longer, and more monotonous than the pine warbler, although they can be confusing -- from trees and wires along the road, content to hang out along the sandy roadsides.

Bella and I returned to one of our favorite haunts in Durham, a beautiful trail loop that leads down and along the Lamprey River. It was mid-day and relatively quiet. We disturbed a red squirrel from its perch, forcing it to drop its treasure before devouring the seeds.

(click on photos to enlarge)

Bella searched for painted turtles that just slipped into the river.

The trout lily, its nodding yellow flower and mottled leaves,
brightens an otherwise still brown trail side.

The partridge-berry, deeper into the woods,
carpets the forest floor with its runners
of shiny, dark green leaves and brilliant red berries.