The Sun Arrives

 To me, there's nothing as glorious as a brilliant sunrise over a landscape that has been washed clean by spring rains.

Waking up to a morning such as yesterday is truly a gift.

The grass, sparkled like a field of tiny diamonds,

while spider webs draped over fence boards like strings of antique pearls - some missing, but those that remain still dangling on their stretched string... glistening.

Tiny raindrops clung to every bit of vegetation - a testament to the quenched thirst of all the garden transplants from earlier this week.

Spring rains help newly transplanted flowers and veggies to get the best foothold in the garden soil and help to lessen the demand on our well water.  I was happy to see everyone standing tall yesterday morning as I inspected all of my plantings...

and amazed to see that the first calendula had already bloomed.

This is the benefit of starting seeds so early in the greenhouse.  By the time they are transplanted outside, they are well on their way to blossoming.

For now, my kitchen bouquets are picked from the fields and roadsides...

but, very soon they will be homegrown flowers.

Here's a peek at the daily garden fare:

I was happy to see that the barn swallows have returned.  

They swoop in and out of the barn, making improvements/repairs to their nest in preparation for raising this summer's brood.

One of the sweetest things in any given day are my two donkey girls and their precious little habits... little things that make me smile, like how they stick the very end of their tongues out through their lips right before and after they take a drink.

Then they dip their mouths just into the water and sip... silently.

Such sweet girls!

Yesterday morning, we took the dogs for a walk in the woods.

  Amazingly, there are still no mushrooms popping up through the forest floor. 

 There were, however some saprophytic types of mushrooms- 

 feeding on decaying organic matter such as dead tree trunks and fallen branches.

 One example of this type of mushroom is the jelly ear...

As we walked, the morning bird chorus floated on the breeze to our ears, as the 

 heady scent of autumn olive blossoms reached our noses.

I love finding the little things that typically go unnoticed.  Can you see the tiny little clump of moss on this tree trunk?

Barely visible were these tiny flowers on this half inch clump of twisted moss.

Nearly missed...

As usual, Forest found a mud puddle in the woods in which to cool off.

Luckily the mud washed off in the large puddle in the outdoor arena.  It's great to have a self-cleaning dog!

Needless to say, we spent our sunny afternoon mowing the farm.  We can barely make it beyond 5 days between mowings these days.  With all of the rain, the grass grows so fast!  Better that, though, than a drought.

Summer always gives me the opportunity to listen to audio books as I mow.