Spring Hath Sprung

 Purple wildflowers about the rocky hillocks

Sprays of white flowers clinging to the basalt.

                                       

                 Short vid of pond across the road featuring 2 geese, redwing blackbirds and odd bird calls

                           Two birds I have yet to film, the Black Billed Magpie, and the Yellow Headed Blackbird.

Both are striking, the black magpie has a very long tail w/white markings and when they fly, their wings are white when spread. Hard to capture a shot, they're wily. Both have very odd calls.

I nearly video'd a Yellow Headed Blackbird today. He's the bird I heard at the above pond site. He looked all yellow in the sun. Was just walking down the lane when I wondered if what I heard was a bird or a buzz saw! Yep, it was him, Ole Yeller Head.

                            Next we will enjoy the sound of the Black Billed Magpie: Take it away, Black Bill!

                                 

  

                        Can barely see the cabins for all the bloomin' trees now!

         Cabin and ground covered with fallen blossom, not snow.

   Columnar Basalt along the long and winding roads, a favorite marmot outcrop.

                                                                                ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Today I finally made time to visit the John Finch Arboretum ~

                                        Lovely Lilacs are in bloom

 

 Large bushes up to 8 ft or higher and well-bushed out.

Everywhere a treat for all the senses...sweet smell of blossoms, wet earth, (watering when I was there), pine and fir mulch, trickle of meandering creek, birds singing...and greens of every shade.

                                                 

                                                                 Shalom!

                                  

It was somewhere around here I caught the fluffy white tail of a cottontail rabbit 

disappearing under a bush! An Easter Bunny escape? Also the ever-present marmots 

and a pair of redtail hawks circling.

                           These huge basalt monoliths are looming everywhere throughout the park.

                                 Read: The Columbia Basin has the largest basalt flow in the world!

                                                                   

Mossy Rock! Moss and lichen like it. Also plenty of pumice stone about.

  

                       The woods are lovely, dark and deep...I plan to return again soon. Only a mile from me.

I'm baaack! Whenever I head east toward town, now I stop at arboretum en route.

Rhododendrons in the shady cove.

                                      

      ......secret stairways beckon under a branchway.

                     Whomping Willow Trail follows along Garden Springs Creek ~

                                 

                           Glen Cove

                                                   

                          Wildflowers abound.....

                  

                                          ....in a cool green oasis.                                                                                             

Nice to rest your wings here a while.