Spring is springing.

We are on the brink of a magnificent wildflower season. As we walk up and down and along our road here every morning, J and J and I have seen the first bluebonnets popping up in the grass. There was just one at first.... an over-achiever, I called it...... and J said Those are the ones that get noticed-- they don't get lost in the crowd.

That one little over-achieving bluebonnet has now been joined by a dozen others, along the side of the road near the creek. The recent heavy rains produced a beautiful waterfall there as the rain made its way over the rocky side of the higher ground around the creek-bed. We could hear the sound of the waterfall as we walked every morning, but even though the creek still has a good deal of water in it, the upper part of the creek isn't over-flowing now so the waterfall has been put to rest.

The bluebonnets, however, are not resting. We can see hundreds and thousands of them wherever we look... their pointed green leaves are going to sprout up into blue and white flowers that will look like an ocean of blue in a few weeks. I've also seen a couple of red Indian paintbrushes, and the yellow daisies have also begun to bloom. Those yellow wildflowers aren't daisies... they look like a daisy off in the distance, but when you get close to them, the petals are pointed, not rounded.... I just can't think of their name at the moment.

As I type, I can hear a symphony of frogs outside.... amazing how the frogs and turtles have once again found our pond after its long dry hole-in-the-ground existence due to the lack of rain. For the past few months, we've had rain on a more or less 'regular' basis and all of the ponds have filled up very nicely. The turtles, however, should learn to be content in their own ponds. I've seen five or six smashed turtles up on the main highway... how did they think they could get from a pond on one side of the highway to a pond on the other side? And was it so important to try and cross that highway?

When we were walking the other morning, it was so quiet outside that we could hear the neighbor's cows pulling up the grass and chewing it. Rip... tear... chew... chew.... The grass over there has gotten so green and high that the cows and goats surely must be satisfied. Last year's fields were so brown and green.... this year looks to be more promising.

Speaking of green..... I've been painting the living room..... and the happy "Promenade" green is definitely an improvement over the darker green that was there before. I've painted the longest and hardest wall..... the one with the heaviest furniture that had to be moved, and the wall with the most pictures, plus a heavy mirror. All of that is back in place now, and it looks very nice. The other walls aren't that hard to do... there are archways and windows, and the wood around the fireplace. I was going to paint that fireplace wall this afternoon, but my wrist was getting tired and I want to be extra careful on that wall so I don't get green paint on that beautiful old wood around the fireplace. Now that I've started on that room, I'm anxious to get it done, but not anxious enough to mess it up.... so it can wait another day.