Set 2 of My Favorite Early Springtime Photographs
Bob Jensen at Trinity University 

Franconia Notch from the frigid water shoreline of Echo Lake
The lighter green clearings on Cannon Mountain are ski trails

It's raining while I begin this module. Almost overnight everything turned (late this year) to green
with unfurling leaves in the forests and lush lawns brought to life by the badly needed rains
Erika and I have a wildflower field separated from the cottage by a grove of trees
Our first colors of springtime show up by our feet on walks through that field and grove
Tiny crocus hugging the ground are the first blossoms to emerge --- even with snow still on the ground.

In the grove, the alders show very tiny bits of color later on

The first bushes to show brilliant color are our yellow forsythia and our lavender azaleas beside the decks

The phlox came to life along with some bleeding hearts and dandelions

Our youngest crab apple tree turns to white as the maple trees turn green

Nobody is planting annuals like geraniums and impatiens yet in fear of those unpredictable May frosts
But we're getting our three flower gardens beside the cottage ready for planting
It's one thing to plant early when the ground thaws (phenology) and quite another to withstand late frosts

Early color on the golf course behind our cottage

From "Nature's Calendar" by Ellen Snyder (wildlife biologist)
A red fox carrying her puppy in the springtime forest

Things are finally springing into action around here. For much of April it was cold and windy, feeling more like late winter than spring. Now, in early May, leaf buds are unfurling, tulips and dandelions are blooming in the yard, the sugar snap peas are two inches tall, pairs of phoebes and robins are busy with their nests, and potatoes are planted. This week I sifted the material in the compost bin, adding some to each garden row. The drip hoses are laid out. We are ready for the long days of summer.

But no need to rush. This is a time to enjoy some of the most beautiful few weeks of the year in New England - before full leaf-out and before black flies emerge en masse. Each morning we listen for the new spring arrivals of songbirds to our neighborhood. This week we heard the flute-like ee-oh-lay of the wood thrush that returned to the woodland on Bald Hill Road and black-throated green warblers are singing their buzzy zoo-zee, zoo-zoo-zee from the mixed woods of oak and pine. I saw my first dragonfly of the year early in the week, but it buzzed by too fast to identify.

It's fiddlehead season for baby fern delights in our restaurants
Clusters of unfurling fern fiddleheads resemble crowds of earth-bound aliens.

Skunk cabbage dot the small drainage along the woodland path at Winterberry Farm

Lemon yellow spicebush flowers stand out in the still mostly bare hardwood understory

We stepped over a sunbathing garter snake
(There are no poisonous snakes in New Hampshire)

Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in North Woodstock about 20 miles from our cottage
http://www.hubbardbrook.org/
See the Image Library at
http://www.hubbardbrook.org/image_library/index.php

Mirror Lake Watershed

Red Trillium

Trout Lily

Our small pond comes  to life in early spring with croaking frogs in the night
New Hampshire has 20 varieties of frogs
I'm not sure which loud-croaking variety is in our pond,
but the crows later on carry off most of the unfortunate little ones who then really croak
I put the pump into the pond so we could listen to the waterfall and the frogs
Birds seem to prefer taking showers to taking baths

Soon I will go to Sullivan's Nursery in Lancaster and bring home about 200 New Guinea Impatiens
These are my favorite annuals that I will store in the living room until June 1 when it's safe to plant
I like these annuals because they will bloom all summer and into late September or early October

This is how they will look all summer long in our south garden beside the pond

Last summer's impatiens in the Pond Garden

This is not a bougainvillea climate, but one summer I had live bougainvillea beside the Pond Garden

Last summer's impatiens in our Rock Garden

Last summer's impatiens and marigolds in the North Garden

Showers that bring summer flowers

It's great to be alive in the springtime sunrises

The days grow longer as our lives grow shorter
Springtime makes us feel young again

Also see
Set 1 of my Early Springtime Favorite Photographs
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits//SummertimeFavorites/EarlySpringtime/EarlySpringtimeSet01.htm  

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

Blogs of White Mountain Hikers (many great photographs) ---
http://www.blogger.com/profile/02242409292439585691

.

 White Mountain News --- http://www.whitemtnews.com/

On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

Bob Jensen's Blogs --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   

Our address is 190 Sunset Hill Road, Sugar Hill, New Hampshire
Our cottage was known as the Brayton Cottage in the early 1900s
Sunset Hill is a ridge overlooking with New Hampshire's White Mountains to the East
and Vermont's Green Mountains to the West

New Hampshire Historical Society --- http://www.nhhistory.org

Clement Moran Photography Collection (antique New Hampshire photographs) --- Click Here
http://www.library.unh.edu/digital/islandora/solr/search/moran/1/category%3APhotographs~slsh~Clement%5C%20Moran%5C%20Collection%2A~/dismax

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/