On Monday, I finally visited the Tiqa Café & Bakery… you know, the little castle in Deering Oaks that became a little restaurant?
The previous time my mother and I visited the park, the place was closed for some reason. This time, we were only late for the hot sandwiches.
Here is some proof of the experience.
As suspected, the leaves have already changed color in Deering Oaks park.
All over the state (and country), of course. Approaching one month into the season, plenty of pine cones are still up (or were), as you can see:
And the berries…
Yeah, some have begun to shrivel up… Continue reading The leaves, they are a-changin’
Aww… the grass was just beginning to rise…
The skies were mostly blue Monday. Tuesdays, temperatures dipped low enough that the in-coming precipitation turned into a blend of rain and snow. The gutters were still dripping (water) during my walk. I got snow on the sides of my hair despite wearing a cap.
The weather’s returned to spring today. Three sunny days in a row, according to the Accuweather forecast. …But there is still snow on the ground around the house… So… how about some new photos to remind us of what spring is supposed to look like, alright? All right.
The birds were out…
Flowers on… trees?
The greens have sprouted.
The sky, incredibly blue. An indigo blue… the violets of the spectrum are probably well-present.
The human body responds to blue spectrum light by being more awake.
Continue reading Officially Spring… maybe
Just three days before spring officially kicked off in the U.S., the flies were out. On day two of spring…
It snowed. And again, on Thursday.
Only so much snow can melt in one day. In fact, some white was still on the pines Friday after a ‘dusting,’ with varying precipitation thereafter.
Now, instead of boring you, dear reader, with more pictures of snow, I’ll go back to that day where the flies were out too early. (Who knows how many died.) …I may have sprained my right foot skipping to/fro the car…
This scene, of course, was brighter than what the photos may imply… but I can only adjust the gamma so much without revealing just how washed-out the colors can be (gray pine needles) due to the smartphone camera.
A quarter-hour after leaving USM Portland, my mother and I went to Deering Oaks park, where you could say it looked like spring already— no ice on the pond, the squirrels and ducks out in somewhat larger numbers…
Compare that to March 3rd; the very same pond was partially frozen…
The temperature may have gotten into the 60s Wednesday—60s into the night (walked outside without a jacket well after sunset), but it snowed again twice prior. The latest dusting took a few days to clear up. (To see the most recent photo, click here.) But the big picture of winter, 2015-16, wouldn’t be complete without the effects of the rain, the melting snow, and the dirt…
Mud season. Toward the end of February was a whole day of rain, some Wednesday snow, and then some more blanking rain into Thursday morning… with lightning. (Yay, a thunderstorm! 🙂 ) Even lost power for a moment.
It was worse in other areas on the East coast, with tornadoes and blizzard conditions. …While India had a full-blown water shortage… which isn’t new for the country. Sometimes it can appear as if we’re getting water that California and India need…
The water in the above image in no way compares to the driveway lakes we sometimes get. The rain may have cleared the snow, but… mud. (Squish, squish.)
Continue reading …Yup, still winter
The Dependent Independent 