(click here to watch my slide show. that's me singing in the background, my favorite melancholy melody Sao Gan.)

I took these pictures over a period of weeks beginning with that wonderful early March snow. I think they tell the tale of spring unfolding in my neighborhood and in Shelby Forest where Blue and I take our walks.

Last week I took Blue out to Shelby Forest. We took a walk down to Pioneer Spring which is about a mile and a half into the woods. I'm learning to be alone. I'm learning to be silent. I'm learning the wisdom of stillness finally. I love the woods in the early, early spring when only the early early plants are coming up. Nothing compares with the cold beauty of the deep red flower of the trillium. They're so plentiful in the unspoiled woods here in West Tennessee, but wild places are rarer an rarer. 

Blue ran up and down the bluffs. Occasionally I'd lose sight of him, not for long. He watches me the way I watch him. He may be high up on the bluff almost hidden behind a tree, but he hears my steps and senses my direction. It's clear to me that his primary purpose is walking with me, following me, being my companion, and exploring the forest floor and the clear running creek beds are pure ecstasy for him, but they are also secondary. 

It's been a long time since I've written here on my blog. I started to post that I was on a sabbatical of sorts and that I'd be back in a few months, but that didn't happen. So, I have no idea if people have just given up on me, lost interest, figured I'd just run out of things to say. 

But this winter has been the longest winter of my life. That sounds negative, but for me at this stage in my life it's been anything but negative. I'll post the story later in the week, but for now, I feel like spring myself. I was asleep, dormant, but now it's time for another season.