Bleak

It's Spring-Not Spring time. By the calendar it's after the Vernal Equinox, but the temperature when I was out this morning was around 25º F (-4º C), and even colder with the wind, and there were occasional snowflakes drifting here and there from time to time. It's officially Spring, but the woods in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park are a tangle of bare branches and vines, with not a leaf or a bloom in sight. The predominant colors are gray, brown, and tan; it's only the touches of red from the bridges and the benches, and also from the brambles, that add some vibrant color to the scenery. It was these reds that decided me to keep the photos in color rather than black & white, because those few touches of color emphasize the bleakness of the general scene.

What's ironic is that it sounds like Spring. The air was full of the songs of Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Goldfinches, and surely they mean Spring. I guess it's a hopeful sign that Spring is just around the corner, these Spring migrants singing their hearts out in the cold, cold air amidst a bleak landscape.

© 2015 by A. Roy Hilbinger