That feeling of spring stirs inside me. It makes me want to go somewhere I’ve never been before, to fill my eyes and senses with something different. Maybe that feeling is us humans preparing for the change that spring and summer brings.
Because it really is drastic, especially in our part of the world. So much changes.
The weather, the clouds, the smells, the birds and insects, the trees and plants, the number of animals, the feel of the earth underfoot, the light, the darkness… and the other things I’m forgetting or don’t know about.
With this thought in mind I went to the back pasture. If it’s about seeing something new, then there is plenty of that right here on the farm.
The donkeys and sheep were grazing the remains of last years wildflowers and grasses, now gray stalks laying flat on the ground. The pussy willows have bloomed since yesterday. Shiny white fluffs against branch, broken, blue sky. I walked the edges of the marsh and watched a spider gliding on the water. I crouched down next to Lulu and listened to her eat. I heard the birds, so many birds constantly flying from one branch, one tree to another. I found a string of wool stuck on a branch and took a video of it. I saw my first salamander of the season in the pond.
And when I stood up to get a better look at what I thought was a fish, Zip appeared out of nowhere.
We made our way back to the barn together. Zinnia splashing through any water she could find, Fate hanging back with the sheep for as long as possible, and Zip running ahead, then looking back and waiting for me to catch up.
Back at the barn, I gave Zip some treats, put the dogs in the yard and, my wanderlust fulfilled, I went to my studio and got to work.
