Spring song

Editor's note: This column originally ran in the April 29, 2010 edition of the Daily Mail.

The nice thing about traveling in the spring is that you can see spring arrive several different times. Even though I only drove just across our own state, I noticed daffodils blooming in one part of the state, while none were showing in another section. The same was true for forsythia blooms. But the biggest joy was driving in the Ozarks and seeing the dogwood and red bud in bloom at the same time.

The redbud came on first while the dogwood had barely visible buds on the trees. However the sarvis berries' white blossoms almost substituted for the white dogwoods in the woods. In fact some of the out of state visitors thought that they had really already seen the dogwoods blooming. It was the controversial spelling and pronouncing bush that I call sarvis berry. Others call it service berry, and probably neither is correct.

When the dogwood did come into full bloom, the redbud was still showing, although not as vivid in color as it had been earlier. On my return trip I could see that most of the native redbud has become rather shop worn looking, but some in lawns (such as the ones on Cottey College's lawn) were still vivid red.

The lack of the redbud's color was made up for with some of the purplish ground cover that seemed to appear almost overnight in some spots.

The guests at my recent Exploritas (Elderhostel) that came from northern states such as Wisconsin and Michigan were delighted to see all the different shades of green being displayed on the trees surrounding the lake by the lodge. The dark cedars were freshened up from the winter to be a perfect background for the different delicate shades of green in the deciduous trees. Some dogwood appeared in spots to punctuate all the greenness.

When I came home I found that same greenness in our lawn and around our pond here at home. I was delighted that I had not missed my lilac bush's blooming, and realized that it wouldn't be long until my different clumps of day lilies will start adding more color to the lawn.

One of my favorite greens is the mint that I planted around the steps that lead out to our patio. I thought when I planted it there years ago that I would snip off a sprig to add to our summer iced tea drinks outside. But I find that I enjoy it just as much by brushing against it and releasing the aroma. If I am lucky some of it will remain on my clothing for a while to continue the pleasure.

Over at the Exploritas meeting, people oohed and aahed over seeing several geese fly over the lake and then come in for a landing. When I returned home I could ooh and aah over our resident Canada Geese pair who hatched out six goslings the day I came home. I am sure that they were waiting for me to appear with my breadcrumbs before letting the young ones out!

Next weekend we will be going to Illinois for a family wedding and I am eager to see what changes in the spring scenes we will notice there. Whatever Quincy has to offer on the riverbanks of the Mississippi, I am sure it won't be any more welcome than all the signs of spring here by Bronze Pond.

On top of all that, the mourning doves are keeping up their nostalgic songs every day and the wild turkey go for a walk on our land each night at dusk. It can't get much better than that.