One year after our return to the farm

The wild plum trees produce a lovely fragrance that wafts across the entire farm.

Apple blossoms - not fragrant but beautiful nonetheless.  And the bees like them!

Tomato dreams

Double tulips

Chicken tracks in the mud, dried to fossil hardness

Midwest haute cuisine:  morel mushrooms

A little neighbor tries on my glasses

Trillium

Bluebell woods.  So beautiful, so transient. 

Wild plum tree on the banks of Nettle Creek

Basket, bag or box - he just wants to be IN something!

Spring on the farm - it washes over us like a flood and we're busy trying to absorb it all and keep up with all the arrivals, both animal and vegetable.  Things look very different this spring than they did last spring.  We still have lots of dreams to fulfill and that's what keeps us moving.  

On the banks ... but with eyes to the sky

It's been just over a year since I retired. My team mates at Google gave me a camera that I can use with my telescopes to take pictures of stars. I haven't had much opportunity to use it. Last night a friend came over and helped me to get it focused correctly - something I was having real problems with. The best result of the evening is the photo below. In bottom center you can see the Whirlpool Galaxy. You can see the wiki page on it here.

I was really excited to finally see something like this using that particular camera. I knew it should be possible. Not until my friend Dan helped me figure out what my problem was and got the focus nice and sharp was I able to do it.