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While I was having a tooth drilled on Tuesday, Grant made an excursion to Vermont with our neighbour Ed, in search of supplies for his new gardening project.
Next day, he required something else and was keen to show me a new route he’d discovered.
So off we went to Bennington.
We hadn’t been there for months until recently and now we seem to go twice a week.
Sure enough, we were there again this morning, to exchange the screws Grant had purchased yesterday!
On the way, we stopped to enjoy a babbling brook:
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Spring days are too good to spend indoors and it’s nice to tour the countryside before the weather turns too hot – and buggy!
Ticks are already lurking.
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We took a pleasant back road to our destination, through woods that are rapidly awakening.
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And past the dancing sycamores.
They aren’t, of course.
But don’t they look frenzied?
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If willows can be said to weep, why shouldn’t I say that sycamores dance?
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They are abundant and thriving.
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Flowering fruit trees and forsythia.
Fall may be the most splendid….
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… but Spring is the prettiest season.
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Opposite the place where Grant had obtained his supplies: Oh no!
The Chocolate Barn.
They did not stop in that day, but Grant and Ed made plans for a return visit.
Other people do wine-tours. They go on ice-cream sampling trips.
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The Vermont hills had a pale mauve tinge, probably from the red maples.
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Grant is building a fence out of re-cycled pallets, to protect his vegetable plot from deer.
Last year they ate most of his squashes.
Home-grown are always best, now more than ever, as everything becomes more expensive and scarce.
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We save all the seeds and it seems to me we could grow enough for all of us.
Perhaps I’ll scatter a few seeds outside and away from Grant’s fence…
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They were rushing off the other morning, as we drove out, a party of six that appear to move around together.
They lose more habitat all the time even as their numbers increase, so I really do not begrudge them whatever they wish to take from us.
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Grant really doesn’t either, of course, but he was justifiably proud of his squashes!
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Heading back to New York.
The Empire State.
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We look forward to Fall with its splendid colours, yet the hills are beautiful in Spring as well, just in a much more muted way.
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Years ago, I had a skirt in similar colours.
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Fall is better, in my view, but only because it precedes my favourite season!
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How could one not rejoice at the return to life?
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And so many newborns?
Thank you, Carolyn, for the lovely post, including everything I love: excellent photography of trees, wildlife, chocolate ice cream, planting seeds, your musing, and your admission that spring is beautiful!
Joanna
New life everywhere, even in the old pallets!
Spring is coming 🙂 It’s so beautiful! Everything is becoming alive now
There are no food shortages in my state, the food and gas prices are lower!
I enjoyed the babbling brook video, but I would sooner go on a wine tasting trip than an ice-cream equivalent. 🍷
Best wishes, Pete.