Evenings on the front porch are now comfortable with a light jacket and I can hear the frogs and crickets singing their night songs. I saw four rabbits on a recent evening. They run a little and freeze and run again.
While I didn’t have a camera, and it was dusk, I was poking around the yard for rabbits and stopped in the grass. A rabbit that I didn’t know was close by, took off. It was one of the largest rabbits I have ever seen, much larger than an adult cat. I saw it’s signature fluffy tail and round, brown haunches pull it into the woods in a panic.
Rebirth is also the story of Easter. Each year on Good Friday, various churches (with no signs or proselytizing) post small volunteer groups along the roadside (far off for safety) and each group supports a tall, white cross made from pvc pipe.
They cover a stretch of highway about thirty miles long (there are 84 spots). They are out there for four hours, waving to drivers, kids jumping up and down, starting in early morning, thirty degree temperatures. We take the annual ride and wave back. It’s a nice community connection.
After hibernating all winter, many creatures emerge. It’s wise to look where you step, starting in springtime and all the way through the next snowfall. I almost missed a long, black, rat snake on a recent walk. It came out to sun itself along the rocks in the dry creek bed.
Guessing it to be two-three feet in length, I was surprised and scared about the tip of its tale rattling. Once back home, I learned that it was nonvenomous and rattles its tale to scare predators (it worked), mimicking a rattle snake (different color and head shape).
This is my third spring in Missouri and I am learning the chronological order of the flowers. First the crocuses and daffodils. They are so hardy that they can survive a bit of snow, so they could even blossom in late winter. Then the pear trees bloom with their distinctive, white fullness.
Currently, I am enjoying dogwood and plum trees flowering and violets along the lawn. The heat of summer will bring out the more exotic blooms, but for now, the little bursts of yellows, pinks and purples are a nice contrast to brown leaves and bare branches just beginning to bud.