Even before dawn every morning the robins begin serenading the day. Their songs are the very embodiment of spring, and the joy of life. Not to mention the wonders of the natural world surrounding us. Which jogged my memory to get out to the backyard in the morning to clean out the birdbath of its standing water and refill it. I can sometimes stand close by the birdbath, watch a bird fly into a tree just over it, then flick itself down to the bath for a drink and a shower.

 

We've been given another beautiful day, a special gift from nature for a universal socially conventional day to celebrate motherhood. It isn't quite as warm as the preceding days but who wants to argue over 17C, after all? It's also extremely breezy and brilliantly sunny. In the backyard no jackets required, out in the forest on the trails, light jackets are the ticket.

 

It's getting dry in the woods. Following all the rain we had in late April and early May, including five solid days of non-stop rain. The forest is a thirsty sponge, and in spring in particular when new growth is emerging and seeks the sun, the rain and the wind to perfect conditions for growth and renewal. We can see cracks beginning to show on the forest floor, a signal that conditions are becoming too arid. The city, in fact, issued no-fire guidelines in reference to these conditions.

 

Still, it's early days, and this isn't Alberta, cooking away in record heat conditions spurring countless wildfires. Wildflowers haven't been detained from their usual and gradual succession process. When we were out this afternoon strolling through the forest trails I decided to bushwhack one of the hillsides and there I found what I was looking for; a very small clump of trilliums with one white flower, a rarity in these woods.

 

Not that anyone would mind. The early spring sight of white trilliums is wonderful, and we wouldn't have to go far to see them in profuse bloom elsewhere, for example on the greensward alongside the Ottawa River. Here the red dominate,  however, and they're a delight to see growing among the other wildflowers of somewhat less distinction but no less attractive to the eye.

 

While the presence of the trilliums begins to taper off, the presence of Jack-in-the-Pulpits succeeds them and they're a delight unto themselves, with their single hooded petal, obscuring the beauty of the petal interior of striped bright purple and pale green contrasts. The hood covers the floral stamen sitting within a tubular floral structure, It's quite an amazing flower, one we treasure on sight.

 

And then there's the huge proliferation at this season of tiny lilies-of-the-valley, much smaller foliage and floral bells than the cultivated ones we have in our garden. Our garden lilies-of-the-valley have made a sudden appearance, whereas those in the forest have been evident for weeks, just withholding their tiny floral wands.

 

We eventually wandered down to the portion of the forest that was designated a pollinating meadow, at one end of the creek. On our way there, we saw the Mallard pair steaming along the creek, although the female soon went one way, the male another. She may be nesting elsewhere along the creek where it tends to be quieter, with no trails leading to more difficult terrain.

 

When we arrived back home, we wandered about the garden for a little while. From a distance, as we approached the house I noticed something I hadn't seen before; the flowers of the magnolia and the flowering crab beside it, were reflected in the glass of the second-floor windows closest to where they sit, an unusual sight.