April 18th, 2012

Taking the camera out for a run....

Praise the spells and bless the charms,

I found April in my arms.

April golden, April cloudy,

Gracious, cruel, tender, rowdy;

April soft in flowered languor,

April cold with sudden anger,

Ever changing, ever true -

I love April, I love you.

These lines from 'Always marry an April Girl' by Ogden Nash, used the very adjectives that described last Sunday afternoon, -  the sun played tag with chilly breezes, but it was such a charming afternoon we decided to go for a drive to see what was happening in the countryside half way through the month of April.

We turned left as we backed out of the yard,  The sun shone brightly, though there were clouds in the sky

and a certain haze that dimmed the brightness of the blue.

Down the street, up the town hill, turn left along the highway and then right at the Upper Bench Road, along which road we found a lovely acres or so of apricots in full bloom

and further on a beautifully unpruned tree, awash in tender yellow leaves

Down at the Rocking Chair Range the mother cows had the little ones out to graze

 and further down the road, as we turned towards the river and the valley bottom around Ginty's Pond

the colours were just as bright and beautiful as I decided to make them as I played with

Photoshop and its magical tools.

More subtle tones as the old bullrushes in the pond, dry and sere and beautiful,

 make way for tender new shoots

such a colourful array of willows and shrubs and pond grasses 

against the Cawston Hills

candle light in Ginty's pond as the sun illuminates the cottony heads of the bullrush

We turn towards home and snap a pretty forsythia growing on the corner

and when we stop for a moment to visit the garden on the hill we find a host of golden daffodils

along with great quantities of the ubiquitous cutch grass, which I do not deign to photograph!

A lovely drive, - sometimes sunny, sometimes windy, sometimes the clouds scudded by

but such a treat to wrap our arms around April!