Game Land Pond in Spring

It's been a strange spring, with alternating periods of actual spring weather interspersed between what feels like summery and wintry days. We had days with sweltering heat and humidity straight out of July or August this past week, and then late in the week, the temperatures dropped for some freeze warnings again.

The last weekend in May is the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S., and most people get Monday off. I decided to add Friday as a vacation day to give myself a four-day break from work. Hooray!

Some heavy rains moved through and Friday morning it was still overcast and chilly and breezy. Shortly after noon, we decided to head up the hill to the local game land for a hike.

I took many pictures of the ponds and the pines and the pink lady's slippers. The ponds were full of water, and this joint is usually hopping and splooshing with amphibians - but I didn't see or hear any amphibians on this day. I suspect it was a bit too cool for them. Still, I knew they were there. (Sometimes I joke with my husband that I will knit the amphibians little sweaters to help get them through the cold nights.)

You have seen this little section of the beaver pond before. Where I was standing to take this shot was not too many steps away from where I stood to take Sunday's dreamscape photo, of the pollen layers on the very same pond. And in winter, this very same spot looks quite different, frozen over and covered in white.

As we stood there, the clouds started to clear out for a bit and we got some sunshine. The song for this photo is Johnny Nash's I Can See Clearly Now (the rain is gone). Oh yeah, and it's gonna be a bright, bright, bright sunshiny day . . .