It’s been a hectic week and despite good intentions to post time didn’t seem to allow it. Fridays usually mean that I participate in one or another photo challenge. Never have all of them converged so easily into one post. In addition to that, the challenge from my Beyond Beyond class easily fit too. That’s a convergence that don’t expect to see again soon!
Photo Friday — a wonderful challenge that I haven’t participated in for many months but occasionally wander by to check out the excellent photography — had “Springtime” as this week’s challenge.
The Daily Post hosts a Weekly Photo Challenge. This month has had a focus on iPhonography. Today’s challenge: Lunchtime. Springtime = lunchtime? Absolutely if I my lunch had included ramps, but it is a bit too early in the season to find fresh ramps where I live. I’m already thinking about them though. Instead, my mid-day break was spent wandering through the woods adjoining my house, looking for signs of Spring with my iPhone. It was a little chilly today, but with the ground wet from the recent snow but starting to warm, it smelled had that loamy Spring scent.
Ailsa, the awesome Irish lass who hosts the weekly Travel Theme, has a theme of Green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. It has been several years since I’ve visited Ireland. I only had to step off the plane and look across the runway to the horizon to understand why Eire is called the “Emerald Isle”. During the gloomy grey days of winter here in the Midwest, I long for all of the varied shades of green that begin to appear in late March. There are a few here now, but I can’t wait until green is everywhere!
Lastly, Kim Klassen’s Beyond Beyond class this week discussed a technique for creating a chalk board effect. I’m not entirely happy with what I did, but it was more fun than just using a “chalk” font.
Green/Spring/Lunch Convergence
There may have been snow on the ground yesterday, but it is gone today. While there are plenty of fallen limbs and dead wood to be removed from the woods at some point, for now it waits on the still-cold ground, providing a nice place from green fungal growth. The ground cover, which turned a crimson color in the late fall is beginning to turn green again. On warm spring nights in late April or May you can hear it grow,pushing aside the crunchy, crumbling leaves. The daffodils are starting to poke through and will soon burst open. My hellebores, which I checked just yesterday and wondered if I would see any flowers this year, have developed buds overnight. Soon their pale yell0w-green flowers will open. The timing is later than last year when we had an unseasonably warm February, but they are true to their other name: Lenten Roses. They’ll be in bloom before Easter.
Be sure to check out the work of other participants in any of these challenges. You’ll find great photography that is sure to be an inspiration. What about you? Have you found a bit o’ green nearby, a hint of Spring for those in the northern hemisphere? If not make it a point to step outside on your next lunch break and take a look. You don’t even have to wait until lunch!
Four Deer Oak 