April Flowers

Bow has had to put up with a lot of flower pictures lately. When I show them to him, he is singularly unimpressed.

But he will just have to bear with me, because, after all, it is spring, and that is the season for flowers.

Cherry Blossoms

In the morning, we wake up to beautiful birdsong. I let Brownie into the yard at sunrise, and I wish I could follow him, too, because the songs of the birds are beckoning me.

I have seen quite a few butterflies on my walks in the field, but they won't stop for a portrait.

In the afternoons, when it is no longer chilly, Bow goes outside.

The dogwood is already putting out its showy blossom, although the parts that pass for petals are still green.

Green  dogwood flowers

The dogwood blossoms are really set up to produce drupes, so  it's those little green balls in the center that are the buds which will one day soon bloom into flowers, which in turn will seem like fruit. But the things that look like flower petals now are merely bracts.

But Bow does not care about all that, and he sees no need to rehash it every time the dogwood blooms.

However, Bow does like to eat peaches and cherries and pears and apples, so he does see the usefulness in allowing me to go out and inspect the blossoms in our orchard.

And after Bow has gone to bed, I make another pass, and I get to see the apple blossoms on our brand new apple tree up close.

Beauty can be functional. April flowers can bring us edible fruit later on in the summer and fall.

Pear Blossoms

But for now, we can admire the flowers.

Apple Blossoms

A Chilly Springtime

Everything is in bloom now, but it has been very cold out lately, especially in the mornings. Yesterday morning, Bow asked to go out, then immediately changed his mind.

Although the mornings are chilly, many of the afternoons are nice and warm. Both Bow and the dogs seem to enjoy those times out of doors.

Sometimes I am in with Bow, looking out at the dogs, and sometimes I am out with the dogs, looking in on Bow.

We did not have an Easter egg hunt this year. Bow is fourteen and too mature for that. But he did get some Easter treats, in moderation.

He tore the little box of Easter dots open with his mouth, then ate them one by one, a dreamy look on his face.

Sometimes Bow asks to be left alone. But he never words it that way. Yesterday after lunch, he kept motioning for me to go out to the front yard, taking my key and pointing at the door, but when I asked him what he wanted, he spelled out: "תנסי לצלם פרחים" -- "Try to take pictures of flowers." There was something decidedly condescending in the way he worded that. But I complied.

The pear blossoms yesterday

Bow is not interested in pictures of flowers. But he knows that I am. So there's theory of mind for you in practice. And, yes, there are times when a fourteen year old needs to be alone. I do understand.