The photohunter theme this week is protect(ion). Don't forget to use protection when you are out in the sun.
To find other participants, please visit the home of photohunters.
The oak catkins or pollen bombs are not something I've paid much attention to beyond dreading sinus headaches. However, I started to realize how elegant they are against the sky.
The shot above was taken Friday and the shot below was taken when the catkins were beginning to form ten or so days ago. Some of the other oaks in my yard have already dropped the catkins and formed leaves.
The shot below shows my red azaleas against the oak leaves on my tree that has already dropped its catkins and leafed out. I love the diversity this time of year where some trees and plants are just starting to bud and bloom and others are finished blooming and leafing out. So much variety.
The way the light played around the canadian goose reminded me of the old Disney Films where you knew magic was happening by the twinkling lights.
I've noticed the ducks and geese spend more time in the protected areas around the lakes and streams this time of year. Later in the spring they get very loud when I am too close to their protected spots. I assume that is when the new babies are starting to arrive.
My azalea wall below, which provides privacy for one section of my secret garden, is always among the last azaleas to bloom. It is funny to me how it's blooming from the bottom up. Still lots of buds not even close to opening near the top.
My hostas below opened over night going from the tightly coiled spikes jutting out of the ground to the full leaves which will then have spikes of flowers in May sometime.
I also love to watch the ferns unfurl their leaves, almost in slow motion. If I walk outside each morning and put together those memories I can see them unfurl before my very eyes.
The variegated periwinkle below was started in part from clippings someone gave me at a party years ago. I admired it and they said, take some but be careful, it will take over. I don't mind it taking over under my oak trees, to a large extent.
I took the shot below at Sertoma Park which is above Shelley Lake where I shot the geese. I like the way there are trees at the very beginning of forming new leaves and then behind them are trees that have completely leafed out.
Since there is a path very near my house which leads through the woods and then around Shelley Lake, I rarely drive to Sertoma Park and take the paths which lead down to the lake from the opposite side to where I live. Because I haven't been in my walking groove, I decided to drive to the park. I was glad I did because the path from the park to the lake has its own charm. That path is shown below.
To wrap up these long meandering nature notes, my Pecan tree is beginning to leaf out as shown below.
The last shot is a closeup of the new pecan leaves. They will get much longer and have a different look when mature but I like the way the new, smaller leaves look.
For other participants, please visit the home of nature notes, and/or Weekend Snapshot.
I thought I'd start off with a few literal reflections. I noticed the top pane of my greenhouse door was reflecting the green leaves of a tree. All sorts of green. My storage building is painted green and it's attached to my greenhouse which is reflecting the green in my garden.
I noticed that the door to my water heater room was reflecting the flowers from the azalea bush. I need to get organized. Between my water heater room (doubles as a garden shed), storage building, and greenhouse, I have too many places to look for tools that get eaten up by the mess I live with.
You may have to click inside the photo above to see the carolina chickadee getting ready to enter her little house. She doesn't have the organizational issues I have because her house is just right for her nesting needs. Of course she has to work a lot harder than I do bringing in the bed for her babies and finding them food. It always seems easier to have a life that isn't one's own but that's rarely true.
When I was a child I used to fantasize about being a bird. Partly because I wanted to be able to fly. In reality, wildlife may not have the burden of a convoluted brain but it is such hard work. The idea of not only having to hunt for food and find shelter but also avoid predators makes a bird's life seem a lot less fun. Humans may have some of those same challenges but as many problems as civilization brings, we also have a lot of support (or many of us do). 
I also went through a phase where I thought I'd like to have lived in a different time. I was drawn towards classical music and literature and a fantasy of a by gone era. Then I realized that rather than enjoying this mythical life I was weaving in my head, I would have been more likely to be the maid helping the lady in and out of her beautiful gowns. 
It is almost comical how I talked myself out of many of my day dreams. Not sure exactly when that happened but to this day I find myself talking myself out of a lot of fantasies before they even get going.
I think that's why I enjoy looking for flower fairies and wood nymphs and other mythical creatures. No guilt with those kinds of fantasies. For whatever reason I do have to find some outlet for imagining. For me, my garden and walks are good places for that type of frivolity.
I've often thought about Thoreau's quote about how "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." I've often felt like the way to avoid that is a rich fantasy life. It's hard to feel desperate no matter what the circumstance while watching a flower fairy dance on spring day. 
The great thing about imagination is that you don't even have to be in a garden to watch the flower fairies. I think I'll be focusing on the wood nymphs who are dancing just beyond my view for a while. Then I will return to the tedium significantly less desperate.
