Weekend Update

On various errands this rainy weekend. Still, there was no stopping the sights to be seen as soon as I walked out the front door. The tulip, that bulb-bundle of joy, is one of the few store-bought flowers I actually appreciate.The Amelanchier is in bloom. Traditionally, this means the ground is thawed out enough to dig graves (whence one of its commen names, “serviceberry”) and that the shad are running (“shadblow”). This is a cultivar, but it does make tasty berries, as both the birds and I agree. Two Redbuds (Cercis canadensis) have been planted on my street and, slightly later than the pink wall of them at the local playground, are about to pop. Younger trees usually have smoother bark than older ones. I find the distinctive bark of our London plane trees look like a kind camouflage when rain-slicked. Personally, I don’t know how my own skin has survived the rigors of the decades, but it looks so much better than what you see on that portrait I had commissioned some years ago. Must have been the kind of oil the painter used. I don’t even bring that damned thing out the attic anymore.