Mother's Day

The first week of May turned out to be a bit dreary. We had overcast skies and rain most of the week. We had our first thunderstorm of the year on Monday morning. All that rain has accelerated the already fast pace of advancing spring.

It seems to me that the juneberry trees (Amelanchier canadensis, also called serviceberry, saskatoon, shadbush, and shadblow) are especially beautiful this year. Here in the Allegheny Highlands, it’s a bit too cold for the dogwood and redbud trees that grace the forests to the south of us. Our most beautiful spring blooming tree is the juneberry with its soft pinkish white blossoms. The fruit of the juneberry is edible but difficult to collect. I have several trees in my yard, but I’ve never harvested any fruit because the birds always beat me to them.

Juneberry trees blooming in the woods across the way.

The dandelions and violets are also impressive this year. I know that lawn purists hate them, but I love a lawn full of bright yellow dandelion and purple violet flowers. I let them grow anywhere they want in my yard except the flower beds. My great aunts ate dandelion greens every spring as a spring tonic. I tried them once and didn’t like them. They’re too bitter for me. I’ve been told that enjoying them is all about how you prepare them. Most people recommend serving them with hot bacon vinegar dressing. I think just about anything would taste good with hot bacon vinegar dressing, I just never had the hankering to put it on dandelion greens.

Violets in the lawn.

The warblers have arrived now – tiny, beautiful birds that never hold still long enough to get a good photo of them. We hear them singing and try to identify them by their songs. Josiah has a bird identification app on his phone with photos and songs and that helps.

Yellow-rumped warbler.

Yellow warbler in the willows by the beaver pond.

Thursday night was our Spring Choral Concert. Josiah performed with the High School Choir and the Select Choir. It was a very nice concert. The seniors in the choir were honored and Josiah won a National School Choral Award. This was our last Spring Choral Concert.

The high school choir.

Josiah and his amigos being honored as seniors.

Saturday turned out to be a nice day. It started out foggy. As the sun came up the fog turned pink. It was beautiful. I took a walk down to the beaver pond to take it all in. The dawn chorus of the birds was wonderful and there were still peepers singing too. I love lush spring mornings. After the sun was up for a bit the day turned warm and sunny.

Pink foggy morning.

The beaver pond.

That morning Josiah had an audition for a music scholarship he applied for. The audition was held at the Methodist Church in Coudersport so Stacey and I went along so we could do errands  in town. The audition turned out to be long (almost three hours) and pretty complex. There were two other applicants. Josiah wasn’t selected. While he was at the audition Stacey and I went to the feed store and bought chicken feed and chicks.

New chicks.

The Maple Festival was also going on this weekend so we walked around the courthouse square and looked at the vendors and attractions while we were waiting for Josiah.

Pony rides in front of the Methodist church.

Live music on the courthouse lawn.

On our way home we stopped at a local greenhouse bought a fuschia to hang on the front porch. It has become our traditional Mother’s Day gift for Stacey.

Stacey with her Mother's Day fuschia.

The rest of the day we spent working in the yard, taking care of the new chicks, and enjoying the fine weather. Later in the afternoon it clouded up and it looked like rain was coming again, so I went indoors and worked on painting barn quilts.

Working on barn quilts.

Today is Mother’s Day. We had some great talks in church. We had no Primary children singing songs to their mothers because we have no Primary children in our branch. We’re home from church and about to have our traditional Mother’s Day lunch – sandwiches, salad, and potato chips – easy to get ready, easy to clean up. After that we’ll spend the afternoon on Skype with calls from all the children and a call to my mother. Technology can be so great. It’s fun to see faces when we talk.