Spring arrives...just not here!

I had planned to start my "coffee cup travelogue" today, but I'm a tad more tired than I had expected from my weekend trip.  My husband and I traveled to Ohio to attend our niece's first communion, and we drove back yesterday in a series of really nasty thunderstorms.  Sometimes I forget that I'm not quite as young as I used to be, and seven hours in a car (in pelting rain) left me a little energy-depleted.  So today I thought I would share a few pictures from our trip instead.  Spring has obviously remembered to visit Ohio already, although she is mighty slow to drop by Wisconsin!  Let's start with the prettiest picture of all, my darling niece.  Isn't she just beautiful?

We were so happy to be there to share her special day with her.

And here are some "spring has arrived!" pictures of my brother's yard.  I was more than a little envious of all the blooms and leaves and sunshine!

Oh my, I remember sitting outside!  Surely sometime soon we'll be able to do this in Wisconsin?

We stopped at a rest stop in Illinois on the way home, and even though it was drizzly out, the pear trees were simply stunning. 

 

And last, but certainly not least...a true sign of spring!  This cheeky mama built her nest right outside my brother's dining room window, on his patio.  We literally had a bird's eye view of the four hungry little robins!

Happy Tuesday!

A Bird, came down the Walk - (359)

By Emily Dickinson

A Bird, came down the Walk - 

He did not know I saw -

He bit an Angle Worm in halves

And ate the fellow, raw, 

 

And then, he drank a Dew

From a convenient Grass -

And then hopped sidewise to the Wall

To let a Beetle pass -

 

He glanced with rapid eyes,

That hurried all abroad -

They looked like frightened Beads, I thought,

He stirred his Velvet Head. - 

 

Like one in danger, Cautious,

I offered him a Crumb,

And he unrolled his feathers, 

And rowed him softer Home -

 

Than Oars divide the Ocean,

Too silver for a seam,

Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,

Leap, plashless as they swim.