Spring Gray

The sky was a bit dreary today, looking more like winter than spring. Despite the celebration of bird song throughout the park, the mood of the lake and forest felt cheerless. As I walked the trails looking for signs of a green spring, the day's limited color palette of gray, brown, and straw colored hues began to affect my own "Barnacle-henge" – remnants of an old dock. (Click to enlarge)"The Lonely Shore" (Click to enlarge)mood. Soon, however, I began to notice the subtle accent of colors here and there; the pinkish red wash of buds on the maple trees in the distance, the golden yellow haze of willow tree catkins down the trail. A faint light-green glow seemed to hover like a mist throughout the tangled understory vegetation: an illusion created by tiny leaves unfurling on the invasive Japanese Barberry and Multiflora Rose shrubs. Even the cloudy sky, which initially seemed mournful, cold, and gray, gave up a whisper of hope in diffuse yellow here and there.

UFOs (Unidentified Flying Organisms, aka insects) buzzed or fluttered lazily past me, or danced on the forest floor hoping to mate. There are a lot of spring-emerging insects who must get down to business ASAP so eggs can be laid and offspring hatched – all before new baby birds are hatched and hungry.

Very close to the ground I found the small, dark green leaves of Garlic Mustard and mugwort plants set to challenge the other plants for their share of the landscape. Also, just barely breaking the soil surface I located the thick, red tips of Japanese Knotweed shoots.

Looking beyond the broad canvas of winter's gray retreat as I completed my walk, I felt reassured by these initial signs of spring.