The First Day of Spring

Happy spring!

Pasque flower (I believe)

McHenry County Il, 2015

Nikon 800e

Some of you might think, "What's up with this guy? The vernal equinox is still twenty days away." And of course, that's true. But today is the first day of what's called meteorological spring, which is mighty official sounding just the same.

Besides, by the time we get to now on the calendar I've about had it with winter. Sure, March is an often brutal month when stubborn winter puts the hammer down just to prove it still can. Around Superior, winter's recalcitrance can last into June. But here on the prairie I'm done waiting on the good news. What with today the official first day of spring to the weathermen and all, I find that suits me just fine too.

The Great Reveal

Seasonal wetland

Gogebic County Mi, 2015

Nikon 800e

People will tell you the best time to see what's typically hidden in the woods is winter, but that discounts the snow that not only makes for hard going, it also covers the ground. I think the best time for wandering around to see what normally can't be seen occurs in late autumn after the trees have shed their leaves and then again, in early spring.

So here's a short selection of sights you'd never see, were they not briefly revealed by the lingering nakedness of winter...

Outflow from Bobcat Lake

Gogebic County MI, 2015

Nikon 800e

Grand Kankakee Marsh Bird's Nest

Lake County In, 2014

Nikon 800e

A month later on the calendar from when these images were captured and you'd never know this is there:

Abandoned Mill

McHenry County IL, 2014

Nikon 800e

Biggest tadpoles I've ever seen in the wild were found in that pothole beneath this wheel when I was a little kid...

Water Wheel

McHenry County IL, 2014

Nikon 800e

Finally, maybe my favorite hidden place ever. It's not that it's location is unknown. Or even that the creek is seasonal, it isn't. Instead this gem of a canyon is reached by travel through deep woods that cling precariously to hard terrain. Now that the resolutely crappy but only road leading back there is gated, the place might just as well be on the moon, whatever season...

Gogebic County MI, 2011

4x5 transparency film

In just a few weeks, April showers will engage their mission to bring May flowers and in the Northern Hemisphere, the world will again be seen as new. From about now until June busts out all over and again cloaks the passionate secrets of summer in abundance, this is every year's prime viewing season.

Welcome the great, annual reveal of life following death. Today is as good as any to start. Go out and look around, what you find might surprise you. In any event, by all means do your best with every splendid day spring gives you, while it lasts.

Hot times are coming soon enough.