"madgardener" wrote in message
...
Well it's that time again. Came home this early afternoon from a nice
brunch with Squire while he's in town this weekend, and son to discover
the
surrounding land is with the passionate throbs and trills of the
PEEPERS!!!

Beautiful sunny day today smelling of the oncoming Spring. The snows are
almost all gone, hints of it's presence are still evident on the floor of
the surrounding woods beneath the trees and on the northern sides of
houses
and what not. More crocuses in the western bed under the lilac are open
like colorful little bird mouths gaping at the sunlight above them. They
will all close in the late afternoon to hold tight against the cool
evenings
in chance that they can open a few more days before they fade into papery
thin remnants.

To me, the coming of spring has many signs, but one of the truest ones I
have learned since living here is the sounds of love surrounding me. The
sounds of Peepers.

madgardener up on the ridge, back in Fairy Holler, overlooking English
Mountain in Eastern Tennessee, zone 7, Sunset zone 36


Nary a peep from either peepers (grey tree frogs for those who don't have
them) or crickets yet. Haven't even seen any of the normall-numerous
five-line skinks on their favorite sunning spot on the wall out back either
.. Guess the sporadic late snow and freezing temperatures in Knoxville are
holding everything back a bit and everything is still holed up under the
leaf mould in the woods. But the crocuses have been blooming despite it all,
the Mahonia is blooming and attracting the early bees, and the hyacinths and
daffodils should be blooming in a couple of weeks. The nightly chorus can't
be too far behind.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com