Reluctantly Springing Forward

We have survived the first day of Daylight Saving Time! I really don't know why we have to go through this ritual twice a year, and most of the reasons  given to support  DST turn out to be not convincing at all. For instance, it doesn't really save energy  or  electricity usage.   A study published by the United States Department of Energy on the "Impact of Extended Daylight SavingTime on National Energy Consumption" in 2008  noted that, "The total electricity savings of Extended Daylight Saving Time were about 1.3 Tera Watt-hour (TWh). This corresponds to 0.5 percent per each day of Extended Daylight Saving Time, or 0.03 percent of electricity consumption over the year." 

What's worse,  it's probably not good for our health, either.  In fact, a  2012 study published by the University of Alabama at Birmingham reported that “The Monday and Tuesday after moving the clocks ahead one hour in March is associated with a 10 percent increase in the risk of having a heart attack.” The fact that the same study mentioned that “The opposite is true when falling back in October. This risk decreases by about 10 percent.” is little consolation. There have also been reports of an increase in  traffic accidents on the Monday  following the time change as sleep deprived people climb behind the wheel to drive to work. I'm fortunate in  not having to get up and drive to work  on roads  crowded with  sleep-deprived people, thank goodness.  Those of you who do have to drive to work on Monday morning, please be very careful out there.

One of the suggestions for  coping with the time change is  to go outside in the sunshine in the early morning. Thank goodness that although we had rain overnight the skies cleared this morning  and we had a lovely sunny day.  I  didn't take any pics this morning- we headed out grocery shopping.  Publix had  lobster tails on sale,  so we had  lobster risotto for supper tonight,  with strawberry shortcake for dessert.  The risotto was a little disappointing- sort of bland.  I haven't quite figured out what was missing, but something was.  Maybe  sleep-deprived people shouldn't cook, either!😉  I'm looking forward to being able to buy local sweet, juicy strawberries at the farmers market later- grocery store strawberries and tomatoes may look delicious, but  they leave a lot to be  desired in the taste department. 

 Tomorrow's weather forecast calls for more rain, then nighttime  temperatures  will plunge into the  20s for a couple of days. But  today was  a gift.  Blue skies,  a little nip in the air, and a sunset that while not spectacular, cast a golden glow on the  bare tree limbs making them glow. Here are some of the pics  from  earlier this evening. 

 The  dogwood blossoms are  opening a little more each day:

We were afraid that the redbud tree was completely dead after it suffered some  blows and fallen limbs during a winter storm, and Mr. G was saying  we should probably cut it down, but it  voiced its objection to that idea by  putting out some pink  flowers on its few intact  branches:

 The mystery  pink climbing rose on the arbor is loaded with  pink buds and one   fully open rose, with many more to follow, we hope.

We have an abundance  of cheerful dandelions  in the front yard.  A bee is enjoying  this one:

Sunday Signs of Spring

It's been one of those lazy Sundays, and believe it or not, I don't have much to say or write about. I could go on a political rant but I'll spare you that and  post some of the pics I took today on my little garden walk-about  as I was looking for signs of spring. I'm happy to report that I found some!

 I noticed while filling the bird feeder today that the  buds on the dogwood tree (Cornus florida) are getting fuller and beginning to open ever so slightly, showing  specks of white, so  it won't be long now before the dogwood is covered with blossoms.   The dogwood is  beautiful all year, but especially so in spring when it's covered with delicate white flowers that seem to shimmer in the sunlight.

At the edge of the front yard, near the street, the spirea is  beginning to  bloom with clusters of lovely white  flowers.

Next to the house, the forsythia seems reluctant to bloom.  There are some flowers scattered along its branches, but they are few and far between. It may be in mourning for  its relative in the neighbor's yard who put on  a  wonderful sunshiny  show every spring.  The poor  thing was mercilessly hacked down by a  road working crew last summer. Even though it  looks to be straggling and struggling, the few blooms on our bush are nice little golden flecks of   color on dreary days.

I was surprised to see a little wild violet bobbing its head  under the forsythia.   Many people   view  wild violets as weeds but I rather like them and they were one of my mother's favorite flowers.

 The white azalea is blooming., but very sparsely so far and the leaves don't look at all healthy, so I'll have to try to find out what the problem is and attempt to bring it back to health.

The variegated vinca ground  cover is also beginning to bloom.  I was afraid Mr G had pulled most of it up when he  was tackling the poison ivy that  had sprung up in the flower bed last year, but there it was- with its periwinkle blue flowers  dotted about among the white-edged green leaves.

                                                    As Shelley wrote:

 "And the Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.”

Spring Sprigs and Shuttles

Spring is a season of gifts from Mother Nature, as trees and plants awaken from their winter sleep, unfurl their leaves and petals, then burst forth in glorious riots of color against the brilliant spring sky. The redbud out front woke up a few weeks ago. In fact, it burst awake suddenly,its empty limbs suddenly awash in deep pink blooms.

We've been watching the dogwood outside the window for a week now. It's been a little groggy and slow to fully wake, but this morning it greeted the day with a mass of white blossoms bobbing in the breeze.

I've always thought of dogwood as only an ornamental tree because of its small size and delicate features. I was surprised to learn that it was once widely used in industry, where its hard, strong, smooth wood was used to make weaving shuttles and spools for textile mills, as well as small pulleys, mallet heads, jeweler’s blocks, and turnpins for shaping the ends of lead pipes. In earlier times, according to a 1973 pamphlet from the USDA Forestry Service, dogwood root bark was used to treat fevers and a scarlet dye was made from its roots.

I now have a new appreciation for this beautiful little tree, and wonder how many early settlers wore clothes fashioned from fabric woven with help from a dogwood shuttle then dyed with dogwood root dye.