Sumac

Today's our last day of dreariness if the weathermen are right.

In spite of it I walked up the road, the McNuggets trailing along because they're so curious about everything. I found nice fat fuzzy pussywillow buds, the girls found all kinds of shoots and things only a chicken would love to eat.

The Sumacs have these nice "torches" and they really stand out when the rest of the world is still pretty bland. When we first moved to Maine I was terrified they were the Poison Sumac variety but they're not. In fact you can make a drink or tea with these that is supposedly good and they're loaded with vitamin C. I've heard it called sumac-ade, rhus-ade, sumac lemonade, Indian lemonade, sumac tea. I doubt I'd ever try it since I can't get past the "it might be poison sumac and I am reallllyyy allergic to that stuff." Even though I know it's harmless.

I pretty much admire it from afar and it was a nice shot of color today. The girls had such a great time I had to shoo them all the way home or they'd still be out there.