The sun was warm

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.

You know how it is with an April day

When the sun is out and wind is still,

You're one month on in the middle of May.

But if you so much as dare to speak,

A cloud comes over the sunlight arch,

And the wind comes off a frozen peak,

And you're two months back in the middle of March.

Robert Frost

Her Early Leafs a flower

Shagbark Hickory leaf

NATURES FIRST GREEN IS GOLD

Natures first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leafs a flower,

But only so an hour

Then leaf subsides to leaf,

So Eden sank to grief.

Then dawn goes down to day,

Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost

This is not just a nature poem, but tells of the order

of nature. Comparing it with the natural process by which the cycle of life is completed.

The Trillies are out

Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world.

Virgil A. Kraft

March 27th on the way to Wisel Creek we noted the trillium springing to life.

Maple Syrup

This is the second year we tapped a few maple trees in our yard. We used no special equipment just what we had on hand. Our trees are quite large so we could put 3 taps in each tree. Yes work is involved and patience is required. I used an oval roasting pan that fit over two gas burners and a candy thermometor. Wool was used to filter the finished syrup. It was great fun but best of all is the pure maple flavor on your "Norwegian Vaffle"

Landmark center St. Patrick's day

From Landmark Center St Paul Mn The Munson family dance their hearts out. this video is of Selena age 10. She is the little one in the center ...pretty in pink.....

http://www.youtube.com/user/Sharen42?feature=mhw5#p/u/3/GJkbrsE6Vzk

Sonja's dance- she is the one with black, pink and blue:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Sharen42?feature=mhw5#p/u/1/BgMmaK9jNT0

The twins' jig: http://www.youtube.com/user/Sharen42?feature=mhw5#p/u/2/sXihY_Dpn4E

A patch Of Old Snow

Old snow.....usually we walk by and wish it would melt away, seemingly insignificant to most. Robert Frost did not like being called "A Nature Poet." His critics chided him about all the trees he had in his poetry. His come back was to say "all his poetry, but for just a few had people in them." He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize 4 times. From, A The Road Not Taken, Louis Untermeyer says "Frost's work chronicles the landscape, seasons, and character of rural New England while exploring the larger questions of life's meaning and complexity

A Patch of Old Snow

There's a patch of old snow in a corner

That I should have guessed

Was a blown-away paper the rain

Had brought to rest.

It was speckled with grime as if

Small print overspread it,

The news of a day I've forgotten

If I ever read it.

R. Frost 1874-1963

The Eagle Eye

We see eagles often down by the Wisel but one cold morning one perched in a Norway Spruce in our front yard, he was quite vocal.

Taking pictures through two panes of over 100 year old glass can be a challenge. One very cold day I counted 7 cardinals feeding outside my window and sitting in the Amur Maple shrub.

Winter Visitors

The birds feeding outside the window have kept us entertained all winter. I think southeast Minnesota should lobby to have the cardinal as our very own state bird. I love the call of the Loon but one has to drive too far to hear it.