MOMENTOUS DAY...

...in that the first daffodil finally popped open this morning and the second followed this afternoon.
Today was a gorgeous, warm and sunny day and one that feels somehow earned after the cold and dark of winter.
On my levee walk this morning I saw Canadian Geese ( she nesting, he honking), a Mallard couple ( she nesting, he quacking), a threatening osprey high up on a treetop ( she was surely nesting somewhere),  two blue herons ( both making that get-away-from- here herony honk) and two of my favorite ducks, the Golden Eye.

I love so much about this little black on the top, white on the lower half, golden-eyed little duckaloo and the thing I love best is their playfulness.  They are like wee avian otters.  They dive under the water seeming to defy any need for air by staying submerged for a long, long time.  When they pop back up it is always a good distance from where the went under and always with a kind of jolly explosion.  HERE I am!  Yesterday, further down the river where there are large sections of not quite rapids but of very swift water, I watched two of them ride the current as far as it would go and the fly back up to the top to do it again.  I am always happy to see a Golden Eye.

FEARLESS

...in awe of my 5 year old soon to be 6 year old granddaughter.

Yesterday was the sort of gorgeous spring day that tricks one in to washing the car, hanging the swing on the porch and removing the plywood from the top of the fire pit.  The kind of day that had to precede this one.
There are daffodils in the yard that are eager to bloom.  wait, wait little yellow gifts...a few more days and then the glory will be all yours.

JACKSON HOLE

...As seen from atop HIgh School Butte.
Originally this - then quite small little town - was  called Jackson's Hole, changed for obvious reasons, but I think you can see here that the town is nestled between the mountains in a hole.

I remember flying here one time on a day that appeared just as brown and unlovely as this.  I had not been paying attention, missed that we had flown over the Teton Range only seconds before, and looked down on this small monochrome place and thought " who would want to live there?"  The plane then took a sharp left and descended towards the airport and provided the immediate answer to my question...ME!

ATOP HIGH SCHOOL BUTTE

Looking for a trail that is not still under snow and or snow melt and mud, I learned about High School Butte, the "hill" that is right in town.  I dont know how I have missed this heart pounder - steep, short and switch backed - but it was exactly what I have been looking for.
You dont have to listen carefully to hear my exerted breathing.  I was a great high to pump up a hill like  this.

I think, because it is southern facing, it must be the first dry hill available so it is reasonably crowded.  Of course, I was easily passed by a minute of a young woman with a youngster packed on her back. On my way back down I met a young Latino man beginning the trail with his two small kids who looked to be about two and three years old.  Jackson Hole and the way it is.

BOUQUET DU JOUR

Spotted this snowy shrub this morning as I left the house.  It looks to have been arranged by a florist in a large hotel.
It is a blustery day, cold and bleak.  For the slightest while I thought about sun and sandy beaches, bare feet on tile floors and the scent of frangipani on warm breezes.. Then my inner introvert said nah, you love this.  And oddly I do.

LOOKING FOR SPRING