MEMORIAL DAY VISITORS

We're having a picture snapping challenge, me and my hubby, as we sit on the bistro bench in the shade of a white pine tree this afternoon, each with a camera in our hands.  We have special visitors today that have called us to this very spot, sailing along on the pond.  Three magnificent trumpeter swans dropped out of the blue sky like a gift this morning and have been biding their time here for several hours.
 

I can't tell what the swans relationship might be to one another, but my hubby thinks that possibly they are siblings,  two young females and one male, the male acting as somewhat of a leader of the trio.  The leader, who is a little larger than the other two swans, has more of a dusty, pinkish-brown neck.  The swans aren't feeding as we watch them now, but simply drifting along, perhaps resting, and they don't seem to be too alarmed at our observations of them.

It's about 78 degrees, the winds are blowing lightly from the west and keeping the bad bugs at bay.  We can hear robins, red-winged blackbirds, catbirds, Baltimore orioles, and song sparrows singing all around us in the trees.  A few frogs, maybe bull frogs, force out a dull croak now and then from the pond.

As I write in my journal, a later omitted side joke about the swans, a wood tick casually strolls across it's open pages.

Suddenly, three more visitors come trotting up the dike heading right toward us.  A doe and two young fawns, as shocked to see us as we to see them, panic in search of a proper direction to continue their journey.  One young fawn passes directly in front of us while the other pauses briefly beneath a small pine tree at the pond's edge.  Another photo shoot quickly ensues between my hubby and I.

While the trumpeter swans still drift about on the pond, now taking turns tucking their heads down to nap, the deer family swiftly retreats into the shady woods near Tom's Creek.

I will cherish these moments today, the gift of the trumpeter swans on the pond, and the deer family at our feet.  I also am feeling appreciative for the freedom that we have on this Memorial Day.... and remembering my husband's Great Uncle Thomas, from Wisconsin, and my Great Uncle Daniel, from Iowa, who both lost their lives in service during World War I. 

THE BUTTON

My eyes became fixed on a small round shape, with four holes, nestled atop the sand and pebbles on the dried up shoreline.  Stained from years of immersion, worn by the waves of time, a simple button off someone's shirt or dress revealed itself to me as I slowly walked toward the dam this morning.  A tiny button, that could have been here for many years, reminded me of how things change, and yet, how they stay the same... comforting thoughts.

Today I'm journalling on the Point at Sherwood Lake in southern Clark County, Wisconsin.  As I ponder about all the changes that will soon be taking place here, with repairs to the dam and dike this summer, I'm excited to know these changes will give this dried up lake a new beginning and kids will once again make great memories here, just like I did.

This sunny, breezy, blue-sky day is worth remembering.  I can hear red-winged black birds, kill deer, and several other song birds singing all around me.  Behind me, in the shallow water and what's left of the old swimming hole, a dozen geese or more are soaking up the warm May sunshine.

On my short walk to the Point, I watched a small muskrat swim in the muddy water near the cracked and rickety old dam.  A large brown snake slithered quickly under the piled up rocks on the former shoreline when it saw me approaching and a snapping turtle swam out toward the Hay Creek channel lifting it's head briefly out of the murky water.  Wildlife abounds, even in a dry lake bed, if you open up your eyes and look hard!

 

As I sit here in the shade on the west edge of the Point, the grasses now growing across what was once a lake full of water, wave peacefully to and fro in the wind, while clumps of fuzzy pollen float carelessly through the air.  Soon the dam at Sherwood Lake will be repaired and the lake will fill to the brim with fresh rainfalls.  Once again the water's surface will sparkle and shimmer in the sunlight and share with us it's amazing reflections of red and orange sunsets.  We've been waiting for all these things since the spillway failed back in February of 2014.

It won't be long until a fish bites again on someone's baited hook and quickly sinks their bobber out of sight... and sooner or later another button will pop off someone's shirt and slowly drift to the bottom of the lake, nestling itself amid the sand and pebbles.   Time changes things, but some things never change, and the thought of it all makes me smile!

MAY FROST?

Apple Blossoms in front of the Moon

 

This evening I'm sitting with my journal on the bistro bench by the pond wondering if we'll have a killing frost tonight in central Wisconsin.  I'm thinking about our apple blossoms, tender young oak leaves, and wild blueberry blossoms that I passed by on my walk here, and how vulnerable they all are tonight.






  As the sun sets after hiding all day long, a little blush of pink appears in the western sky.  The red winged blackbirds are still singing in the tree tops, both adults with their pretty trilly songs and young ones with their simple peeps.  The frogs are silent tonight, too cold to make a sound except for a few hearty souls in the sheltered marsh far to the west.





I am wearing my down filled winter coat from Gloria, hood up, stocking cap atop my head, and a pair of warm gloves.  I do think it will freeze tonight, but the world will carry on anyway.  Grandpa Adam often said to wait until after Memorial Day to set your garden plants out.  Even if the earth is warmer nowadays, Grandpa is still right on.

I keep my ears open for the owls and my eyes open for the wolves that have been wandering around here lately.  The cold doesn't bother me; I like the way it makes me feel.  For me this cold spell slows time.  It slows down spring, the ticking of the clock, and the arrival of summer.  Summer can wait; I'm in no hurry for what summer brings.  Today is a perfect gift in itself, freezing cold with a little snow, it's all good and teaches us patience and appreciation for the moment right now, just as it is.  Colder temperatures are easier to take when the outdoor world is green again!

Next month, next year, five years from now... don't talk to me about the future.  I'd rather talk about today because it's grand just the way it is right now. As I close my journal and head back to our warm cabin,  I watch the daylight fade and the woods grow dark.  A woodcock peeps toward Tom's Creek.  He likes this cool weather too!

GREEN

If there's a color that I've ever craved, ever longed to see more than any other, that color would have to be "green".  Today, May 1st, this color surrounds me at home and makes me feel good.  It's nothing to do with John Deere tractors or paper money.  It's all about the greening up of the world outside my cabin door.

It's the return of green needles to the tamarack tree, green blades of grass shooting up along the creek bed, green leaves on the willow trees, green may apple leaves, and green dragonflies flitting atop the water's surface around the pond.

If it wasn't for the bare and sometimes gray, cold Wisconsin winters, I would not miss green colors, but would take them all for granted.  That's another good reason to love each season.

I'm sitting on the bank of Tom's Creek this afternoon soaking in all this new greenery with my eyes.  In the distance I can see the once again green tops of the tamarack marsh.  A great blue heron takes off from a little bend in the creek, heading northwest in flight.  A light breeze keeps gnats from pestering me since they made their spring appearance a few days ago.

It's a perfect spring day with temps near 60 degrees, a great day to celebrate the return of springtime and all things fresh, new, and green!

Two days ago, my hubby and I visited the Listeman Arboretum in Neillsville, Wisconsin, and took a short walk on a nature trail off 2nd Street, following it to the Black River.  This 50 acre parcel of wooded and undisturbed land was donated to the city of Neillsville in 1966 by Kurt Listeman.



Wild flowers, 128 species as mentioned by the brochure at the trail entrance, abound throughout the parcel, and springtime is a great time to view many of them.  A hiking trail follows the Black River north of Highway 10, and meanders into a shady wooded area with tall trees like river birch, aspen, elm, oak, maple, and ironwood, and you can also view rocky outcroppings near the river.

The Listeman Arboretum is a great gift to the public and with the generosity of the late Kurt and Marguerite Listeman, through the longstanding Listeman Foundation, this family keeps on giving to many local projects in southern Clark County.  The Arboretum is a great place to see "green".

May Apples at Listeman Arboretum

Trilliums at Listeman Arboretum

Happy May Day!