More Proof of Spring

Slow news day. Or at any rate, I’m going to skip the news and cut right to the flower pictures.

The grass is getting green, and the flowers are coming out. The sun rises earlier every day. Here are some recent pictures from our yard. No great photography; just snapshots of what springtime looks like today.

Below, in order: A couple of daffodils; vinca flowers; a portion of the forsythia bush on the corner of the house; a confederate violet; a flowering quince flower.

Here is something else—the garter snakes are out! We love them; they are our little friends. When they see us coming, they hide in the vinca and other groundcovers and bushy places in the yard. We feel blessed to have them in our yard. To us, they are just like more flowers.

When it gets warmer, they will respond to our presence more quickly, and we won’t see them as often. But these days, when the mornings are still chilly, they are quite approachable.

And I suspect they are hungry, too. I’ve noticed the boxelder bugs decreasing since the snakes have been awake. (I’ll bet boxelder bugs taste sweet, like maple sugar. If I try any, I’ll let you know.)

But here’s the fun part: I’ve discovered that I can play with the snakes. Today at lunch, for instance, there were five of them on the front terrace, near the entrance to their tunnel, all slithered together, like a litter of kittens trying to warm up in the sun. I approached very slowly and smoothly. Their heads rose and craned in curiosity. The tongues came out.

Bending down slowly, I discovered that if I dragged one of my fleshy pink fingers away from them through the grass, like a bug or a pinky mouse trying to wiggle away, they could not resist following. They tapped at my finger with their soft tongues.

Voici, voilà-la-la-lahh . . . I’m a snake charmer now.

(Snake charmer: I’ll have to add that to my résumé. It’s no doubt an invaluable skill.)