Hapless harbingers

It was just over a week ago, a cold and snowy day when a host of Red-wing Blackbirds, huddled in the bushes heads hanging.  They had come our way, much to their regret.  Someone, no beaks were pointed, had really messed up the return schedule.  It was February, not March, and these harbingers of spring in our part of Michigan had hurried home to the north only to be greeted by the biggest snowfall of the year.  But I don’t think we can really blame them; it had been a funny winter with warm days doing in any snowfall that was deep enough to please the skiers, skaters, or sledding enthusiasts -- anyone who loves winter.

Not feeling too harried this week, I went exploring for more information on Red-wing Blackbirds on the web.   And, happily, I was alerted to what a female Red-wing looks like.  And, hooray, I had photographed her that snowy day not knowing who she was or why she was hanging out with all the Red-wings!  Check out this Wikipedia article where you can learn what to call a Red-wing in the languages of their summer territories ("....in vast majority of the other Ojibwa language dialects, the bird is called memiskondinimaanganeshiinh, literally meaning "a bird with a very red damn-little shoulder-blade." However, in the Odawa language, an Anishinaabe language in Southwestern Ontario and in Michigan, the bird is instead called either as memeskoniinisi ("bird with a red [patch on its wing]") or as memiskonigwiigaans ("[bird with a] wing of small and very red [patch]").^[22]

And when the snow melted, these other too-early harbingers of spring were once more visible, also several weeks earlier than usual!

P.S. in case you didn't know about them, our Michigan pro-hockey team is called the Detroit Red-wings and their logo combines two important loves in this state: sports and cars!  And does three photos turn this blog into a hat trick?!

I don't mean to harp at you, but please, please, don't leave the web
without visiting the heterogeneous but never hapless bloggers at
ABC Wednesday.

L is for lace-curtain Irish

I was loathe to leave behind my first idea for L, inspired last week by Roger’s fine take on the Kennedys and the memories his entry for K on ABC Wednesday brought back of growing up Irish in South Bend, Indiana.   That choice was “lace-curtain Irish.”

Curious about an “official” definition, I looked it up in lots of places with lousy results, in the sense that agreement is a loser in the debate.  Is it a slur or a compliment?  Only American or also Irish in its usage?  Did it refer to making lace?   Or hanging lace curtains, or simply aspiring to hang lace curtains, in your windows?    The American Heritage Dictionary (my favorite) says: “aspiring to or emulating the middle class.”  One side of my Irish family had definitely moved into the middle class (Brigid Flynn married an English Protestant!) and the other side (the Irish-French Canadian union) qualified because they aspired to it.  

But then I could not even find the photo of lace curtains in my very own house!  Did I have the luxury of continuing to look in old hard drives?  Was I just being lazy not to come up with another of the luscious L words that would leap to mind if I just tried longer?  Or would the legendary “luck of the Irish” see me through to finding what I remembered as a lovely photo which I would hate to lose?

Well, it is now late afternoon of ABC Wednesday.  I have lavished hours on the search of several back-up drives.  Finally I turned to my last hope, launched the very old Star-Max hard drive (which was left behind several computers ago), and, lo and behold, there it was, the photo I call “My Redon,” a late summer bouquet in front of the lace curtains,  I hope it brings a smile to your face and a lilt to your gait!

Do not linger here any longer!  Lope on over to ABC Wednesday for lucid and lustrous blogs on the letter, L.

Through the garden gate, one more color of spring

The skies did spit snow on and off on Thursday, but the azaleas persisted and began opening at what seems a very early date.  In front of the azaleas is a tree peony putting out leaves and buds.   The rhubarb is now 5 inches high and the red edible stems visible. 
On the other hand all this warm weather has produced too many ticks and they love Willow's ruff.  For the squeamish, stop reading now.   I dealt with my first and second blood-engorged ticks yesterday.  Yuck, and again I say yuck.   So lest we forget, there is always a balance in life.

Joining the Golden Finch in the spring yellows album......

Beauty

and the Beast

The forsythia are just starting and will be entry number four in the spring yellows album.

snow drops

Could not resist contrasting the depressing snow with the hopeful snow drops, our first sign that winter is leaving us at last.  There may still be more snow storms, the first week of April always seems to bring one, but we are now headed the right way toward spring.  On the other hand my mother told of the snow fall as she marched in a Memorial Day Parade in the 1920's in northern Indiana!  Spring is the most anticipated season and seems to be the shortest.

emerged

First orchid of this season!  There are four orchid plants, all have one or two stalks with buds at various stages of development.  How lucky can an orchid lover get!

Christmas amaryllis in the snow

The first stalk is over but the second stalk is producing 6 (!) more blooms.  I am not sure why but I always toss the fading blooms into the snow.  Over the weekend with temps in the upper 40's most of the snow cover disappeared, but this morning we woke up to a new covering of the white stuff.