Scenes From Spring

Beautiful scenery along the Ivy Creek Greenway. April 2023. Photo by me.

The weather has been odd this spring in that it has felt like spring instead of what has become all too often for the past several years a period that felt more like early summer by April. This spring the temperatures have fluctuated from chilly afternoons to warm ones and some mornings have been much below average. The fluctuations have continued into the last week of April when over the last several springs this area had already settled into afternoons in the eighties and mornings in the sixties. Today's high, for example, under the gray sky and occasional light only reached the fifties. I am not complaining about still having to wear fleece jackets and long pants instead of shorts every day this spring. I have liked it.

The miles walked have added up this spring. This past Sunday I was out walking for six and a half miles and in shorts. The temperatures were in the upper sixties and the sky was partly cloudy then the wind changed. The clouds rolled in from the southwest and the warmth of the sun was gone. I regretted the shorts by the time I reached the end of my walk. This was only the second time this spring that I have walked in shorts this year and I go for long walks or hikes once or twice a week. This year is in stark contrast to the past several years. It was not unusual to be out in shorts in early February the past few years.

A group of deer scurry when spotted in the woods. April 2023. Photo by me.

We had late deep freezes in the twenties early in spring this year. It killed all of the leaves on my crepe myrtle and it has only recently sprouted new leaves. Some of the hedges in front of my house were damaged the same and also have only begun to send out new leaves. The growing season is behind this year, but the coolness has helped with transplants of bushes and trees, they have not been stressed with early heat.

Rain muddied Ivy Creek. It kind of resembles a canal in the English countryside. April 2023. Photo by me.

Like walking through a green sea. April 2023. Photo by me.

As the clouds came late in the day. April 2023. Photo by me.

April 2023. Photo by me.

April 2023. Photo by me.

The rabbits are here so they know it is spring. I have seen them in my yards eating the grass and clover and while out walking on Sunday on a nature trail. If the fat rabbits are out then there is no denying the time of year.

I will gladly take a cool spring that is refreshing with cloudy and rainy days except for that freeze that damaged the vegetation. As nature does its balancing act, I do fear that these days will be paid for by abnormally hot and dry weather this summer - maybe not. A cool, by Georgia standards, summer and fall would be fine with me too.