Week #8

It was an overcast afternoon after a light rain this morning. The Sky is a luminous white as the sun tried to break through thin but persistent clouds. As I walked into the woods I could immediately see a change from my last visit only a few days ago. In place of opening buds there were now tiny crumpled bright green leaves unfolding at the end of branches. I also saw new growth beneath my feet as grasses and other herbaceous plants pushed through the leaf litter. There is a subdued atmosphere in the woods today with only a few birds singing. I can now add the Phoebe to chickadees and seagulls on the list of birds I recognize by their call. I saw a red squirrel run across a log as I walked in and I can now here them chattering in the trees. The small stream near my spot is still trickling away perhaps slightly swollen from the rain. A couple of water-striders skim across the surface of a pool in front of me and seem to be interested in a patch of foam which they repeatedly run up against popping tiny bubbles. An interesting development this week is that the trees (I think they're Ash) and shrub directly across the small stream from where I sit are not as dead as I had thought. New buds are opening on them, I don't know if I didn't notice it last week or if they emerged that quickly. There's still no sign of the buds opening on the beech saplings that make up much of the much of the understory near my spot.