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specifically, in the Boston, MA, area - since i work 6 days of 7, week-in & week-out, it's not as tho i travel much. :p

On Feb-26th, the snowbells bloomed in my neighbor's garden -
Screen Shot 2018-03-08 at 3.02.41 PM.png


... on March 12, i saw my 1st cock-robin of the year!

Screen Shot 2018-03-23 at 11.58.28 AM.png


he's there, believe me; about 2 or 2.5-ft closer than the hydrant, to the right of the 2nd large hump of melting snow - he's facing AWAY [of course he is! - when i tried to get the snap, he was side-on with his brick-red breast on display, the stinker. :rolleyes:
Then he flew 20-ft, & i had to walk up on him cautiously; this was the best i could do, he was spooky].
U can just see a wedge of his lower breast, his black-cap, & his slate-y back with cream edging his primaries. He's standing on a withered clump of catalpa pods & dead grass.

the next week, HORDES of English Sparrows arrived, with their irritating nonstop "cheep! ... cheep!... cheep!...", fluttering & pecking everywhere, blast 'em.

Last week [Sat March-31], i saw a flock of more than 100 cock-robins with a few blackbirds & grackles among them; the truly-tropicene species aren't here, yet, but this week, Robin-Redbreast & Northern Cardinals are singing from 5:30-am, every morning, all over town. :)

Also last week, on Wed the 28th, the stars of Bethlehem were up & in bud in my landlady's yard, in a neglected little patch of mud by the trash-cans & recycle barrels.
Their blue is so vivid, IRL - sadly, my photo appears overexposed as my mobile can't deal with the sunshine patch in a shady setting. :(

Screen Shot 2018-04-05 at 7.52.22 PM.png


I'll try to get a better one tomorrow AM, while they're still in shade - i've got to catch that deep cerulean, somehow.

- terry

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I walked a different street today, & saw some new flora -

this hydrangea is either nutz, or in one helluva hurry for summer...

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a moss-garden on a tree trunk, sprouting new growth -

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now, them are TREES... No 15-ft ornamental shrubs, there!

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wide-open blooms, soon to fade...

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Magnolia stellata -

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assorted crocus amid ivy -

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dwarf narcissi -

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Siberian iris, stars of Bethlehem in the background, & an unidentified yellow flower -
a short translucent red stem, a frill of leaves under the bloom, & a simple 5-petal flower with yellow stamens:

Screen Shot 2018-04-17 at 1.08.42 PM.png


It was a cool damp morning with high clouds, perfect diffuse light. :)

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more fleeting spring growth -
tree buds breaking out...

Screen Shot 2018-04-26 at 10.04.18 PM.png


2 window-boxes, to either side of the door at Yankee Craft in Lexington -

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sweet alyssum -

Screen Shot 2018-04-26 at 10.08.27 PM.png



hellebore -

Screen Shot 2018-04-26 at 10.09.46 PM.png


a creeping Cotoneaster, & what's that purple below? - Blooming periwinkle!

Screen Shot 2018-04-26 at 10.10.18 PM.png




Magnolia stellata in rampant blossom -

Screen Shot 2018-04-26 at 10.11.03 PM.png



flowering cherry behind a privacy-fence -


Screen Shot 2018-04-26 at 10.11.25 PM.png


their flower bracts are pretty, but the shrub below is not healthy. :(
See the fine yellow dots ion the leaves? - & the yellow-green cast of the foliage? // Spider-mites, sucking the sap.

Screen Shot 2018-04-26 at 10.11.49 PM.png




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sneaky violets creeping into a lawn...
Screen Shot 2018-05-02 at 12.17.07 AM.png


a very-aged weeping cherry - at least 75 to 100-YO, the trunk is as thick as my thigh, & they are slow-growing.

Screen Shot 2018-05-02 at 12.17.45 AM.png



... ONE outer edge of a single limb on this ginormous tree is leafed-out - the rest is still in bud.
Screen Shot 2018-05-02 at 12.18.59 AM.png


I don't know what this is, but it's very pretty, nestled among fallen leaves & pachysandra -
IRL, the petals were translucent & pearly, not opaque flat-white.
Screen Shot 2018-05-02 at 12.20.48 AM.png


another weeping cherry, this one a bit younger -
Screen Shot 2018-05-02 at 12.22.35 AM.png


grape hyacinth, with a background of tulip foliage -
Screen Shot 2018-05-02 at 12.23.01 AM.png


a very pretty weed, dainty & hardy.
Screen Shot 2018-05-02 at 12.23.27 AM.png


bugle, just opening their blossoms -
Screen Shot 2018-05-02 at 12.23.59 AM.png


some tulips -
Screen Shot 2018-05-02 at 12.24.36 AM.png
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It was a lovely walk - the fragrance from one old pear tree covered in blooms actually reached me after i passed it by, & i had to turn around several times to locate the tree. The scent was so sweet, on the damp evening air. :)

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it breaks my heart to hear that native dogwood - the 1st woodland flower after witch-hazel, everywhere in the mixed-hardwood forests as an understory tree, with its blood-red berries that feed the northing & southing birds as they migrate - will soon be wiped out by Asian mosaic virus. :(

Screen Shot 2018-05-03 at 9.45.40 PM.png


Screen Shot 2018-05-03 at 9.46.22 PM.png


this mourning-dove hen is setting a clutch atop the cinder-block wall of a ground-floor garage -
mourning doves are terrible builders, but devoted parents.

Screen Shot 2018-05-03 at 9.47.15 PM.png

Screen Shot 2018-05-03 at 9.51.50 PM.png



white violets, among grass just coming up in a lawn -

Screen Shot 2018-05-03 at 9.51.08 PM.png



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remember those branches layered in snow, outside my [uninsulated] sun-porch in March?
This is that tree, today -

Screen Shot 2018-05-10 at 8.46.59 PM.png



Screen Shot 2018-05-10 at 8.47.29 PM.png



that's flowering crabapple - the top photo is closer to true color. // The lower pic is too fuschia. :oops:
My mobile is not accurate for color, esp'ly in changed light conditions.

- terry

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1st thunderstorm of the year... crashes, rolls, flashes, & bands of rain going from sprinkle to pouring buckets!

Screen Shot 2018-05-15 at 5.51.40 PM.png


Screen Shot 2018-05-15 at 5.52.24 PM.png


lovely to see & hear, i like thunderstorms - so long as they're not too wild; not the hail sort, just ordinary garden variety T-storms.
As a kid on the farm, my mother would have a fit --- i'd put my bathing-suit on & run around in 'em, while she yelled out the window, "U're gonna get struck! - get IN here!..." :D

- t

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Yikes!! - I didn't know how bad that storm-system was, elsewhere. :(

Photos: Powerful storms cause 5 fatalities, widespread wind damage in northeastern US

It was quite mild here - flashes, rolls, some booms, & now & then wind-gusts.
In NY & Pennsy & Conn, it caused serious property damage - tornadoes spawned, trees went down, cars were crushed, homes struck by falling trees, large hail, flash-floods, power outages - 3 separate RR lines from Grand Central in NYC were shut down, as trees had fallen across the tracks, & had to be cut-up & removed. // Hundreds of commuters were stranded in the terminal for hours.
Mass got off easy. :(

- terry

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I got some great photos today, as i was spozed to arrive at my client's house @ 6-pm instead of 2 -
I got there at 5:15, parked my rollaway & chill-bag in the shade in the backyard, & walked about till 5:45, admiring gardens, houses, & wildlife.
Got a good series of a M cottontail harassing a F rabbit, but i can't move my pix from the phone to my laptop - this dam*ed WiFi has been giving me grief for weeks. :( Works fine on the Mac, can't be authenticated on the 'phone.

I'll add the photos later... probly Monday nite, that's the soonest i'll have reliable WiFi to update / share my photos.

- t

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finally! :D

IF U can't take it out, make it a feature...
Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.48.17 AM.png


a flame azalea - sadly, the shrub isn't thriving, this cluster of blooms is 5-ft off the ground on a leafless branch.
The bush looks very poorly, but the flowers made a brave show.

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.49.30 AM.png



another neat old house...

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.50.40 AM.png



a marvelous Asian-inspired Craftsman - i love this house:

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.51.06 AM.png


Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.51.55 AM.png


The Craftsman's neighbor...

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.52.15 AM.png


a lovely old rambler -

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.52.54 AM.png



It was so nice to wander the neighborhood for a while, I usually must go directly indoors & to work.
...

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more from last Friday afternoon -

love these windows, & the old-rose shutters on the slate clapboards:

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.53.32 AM.png


a cottontail doe - in poor coat, a little thin, & with a litter hidden somewhere;
the bucks always look much-more prosperous, Spring & Fall, while the does look frazzled & weary:

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.54.09 AM.png


another boisterously-blooming dogwood, suffering from Asian mosaic virus -

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.54.43 AM.png


notice all the dead twigs in the crown; it will die in a few years. :(

A thriving creeping-juniper, covered in berries, draped over a stone wall -

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.55.36 AM.png


some local dog's footprints, immortalized many years ago, in freshly-poured sidewalk -

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.56.14 AM.png


the trunk of a mosaic-virus dogwood -

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.56.39 AM.png


... & its glorious crown -

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.58.02 AM.png



...

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a magnificent copper beech, trunk -

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.58.25 AM.png


... whole tree -

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.58.53 AM.png


... & crown -

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 1.59.49 AM.png


...

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I caught several minutes of a buck rabbit relentlessly harassing a doe, she stood to smack at him repeatedly with her forefeet, but he refused to leave her alone; she fled, he pursued, she laid her ears flat & smacked him, he tried to mount her... I could empathize with her easily, some guys just don't quit. :rolleyes:

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... & he kept pursuing, while she dodged & rained a flurry of blows on his head periodically.

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When i arrived, he was already mating her, but she wriggled out from under him & fled - & obv, he wanted to repeat the procedure, & she just wanted to eat in peace.

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