These little seed heads in my garden keep calling me back to look at them and I like observing their changes as they advance through the seasons and work their way out of the snow. Somehow they still hold a whisper of the faded colours of summer.
Spring is in no hurry, really, but under the trees there are finally circles of earth, damp and tarnished from the winter. These hopeful patches might hold a gentle robin or a few starlings jabbing hungrily at the ground, and today for the first time I am hearing the lovely lilt of a red-winged blackbird. We are grateful for any bits of spring that we find even if it is simply the incremental folding back of the snow or a few pussy willows breaking through their skins.
Below: The first pussy willows, a couple of weeks old now…
© Karen McRae, 2014
draw and shoot 
Sweet narrative, Karen….and wonderful images…..
Thank you, Scott. It’s nice to see some little shifts in the weather.
Beautiful words Karen for beautiful pictures
Thanks very much, Anik!
Well, if this isn’t the essence of Spring, I don’t know what is! 🙂
Ah, the essence of spring, maybe almost as good as the real thing! : ) Thank you, Marina, i appreciate your kind words.
So beautiful Karen and I’m happy the Spring has finally shown up for you albeit a little tentatively. I was out today enjoying the primroses in the hedgerows and the lambs skipping about in the fields. This really is a feel good time of year!
Your green world sound great, Adrian! We had another 15cm of snow on Sunday! It’s melting a little bit everyday though. Its starting to look hopeful! Spring really is a feel good time of year.
Beautiful Karen! Hope all is well with you!
Cheers…M
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Yes, loving the warming days and the light stretching out into the evening. Thanks very much, Marianne. : )
I love the delicacy of these, in both form and color.
Thank you, Linda. I’ve posted a fair amount of these but for some reason I keep thinking I can get more out of them. I’m happy you like them.
Spring such a wonderful time, and that last picture is the essence of spring.
I love spring too, Bente. It’s coming along slowly – like a glacier retreating… Thank you!
These photos are just beautiful!
Thank you, Ken! Just tiny things but they have a translucence I like.
I think your image of dancing form has no season.
Beauty of pure form !
Hi Yoshizen, thank you. They sleep a little in the winter but other than that they are good to go! : )
Oh, your photos remain for ever for everybody to appreciate !
Oooh, I love these.
Thank you, Jenny!
Bursts of hope, timeless beauty, and the promise of delights yet to come.
Thanks for your words, Elena. I hope things are greening up in your neighbourhood. : )
You know I LOVE these! The tight, shallow focus is perfect.
More please.
Thank you, John! I do seem to photograph these quite a bit, I’m glad you enjoy them.
This is your vision at its best, and I just love how you combine soft, blurred forms with more sharply expressed shapes. And as always you colour palette is a delight.
Thanks for your kind words, Otto, I appreciate them!
like a visitation from….somewhere delicately surging. How beautiful.
Always so poetic, Steven, thank you. : )
Beautiful images …
Thanks very much, Dorothy.
So delicate and powerful all at once. They remind me of the tooth breaking through the gums in my son’s mouth tonight. Just this tiny dinosaur looking thing nestled in all the softness fighting it’s way out.
Hi Jen, thank you. That’s an interesting comparison! : )
Beautiful, sensitive words, Karen – and photos, with their soft, burnished colors. Like that subtle transition time between late winter and early spring…tentative.
Thanks very much, Lynn. It sure is tentative around here.
Oh I love the sounds of red-winged blackbirds…it takes me right back to fishing at the creek. Thank you for such lovely images, both in word and photography!
Hopeful, grateful, spring. You paint with words and your images tell stories. Thank you, Karen.
Poetic simply poetic
These seedbeds are my favorite photographs of yours — love always seeing them — so pretty!
lovely like delicate watercolours.
Spring stirring herself into action is my favourite time of the year. And when you’ve had to wait that little bit longer, its so much more welcome. Beautiful images Karen.
Nature can’t be Defined in words…. 🙂
But we can feel them 24*7…. 🙂
Lovely!!
Simply beautiful.
as always… beautiful
Wish spring would arrive here. Gorgeous – the images are so ethereal and mystical!
Lovely shots! 🙂
Etched in light and time, caught forever at their most perfect.
Lovely. It’s like they are shaking off the winter, somehow.
very sweet and delicate
These are so beautiful. However do you get that tiny bit of fluff in focus and all the rest so lovely and soft?
Lovely to see these friends again, and looking new every time – love the contrast of rich and delicate in colour and form..
Absolutely beautiful pictures, Karen, I like them very much. There’s more than a hint of paintings about them – which is always good! Adrian
Poetic.
I particularly love the pussy willow.. enchanting work karen..
Wonderful, Karen. Simply poetic.
Very very nice shots!
Reblogged this on 恋の予感.
Superb and wonderful Karen, like always 🙂 The snow here is slowly melting but no signs of damp earth yet…. Have a beautiful week Karen 🙂
Stunning!
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Love the illusion of the flower out of focus – reminds me of ballroom dancers.
These are so beautiful. I do believe I could “like” every post on your blog.