Spring along 30A

Every morning on our walk through our beloved little section of Point Washington State Forest we watch for and enjoy the subtle changes it has to offer. The massive pine trees were felled long ago for homes and ships masts so our forest is not epic in size at a human level. Still it is cherished and provides us lots of entertainment as well as a good place to walk.

Last week we had the seasonal treat of watching spring arrive. It starts here with some low thick leaved greenery tucked way, way under the winter branches and spent turkey oak leaves. Then the rosemary begin to show their blossoms, then my favorites, the blue lupine begin to show that they have something special to offer if you just wait a few more days.

  

The big treat was the morning that the mist was heavy enough to dampen your clothes; the definition of 100% humidity. That morning, the dew illuminated hundreds of spectacular spider webs, hammocks of webs really...double deckers and hammocks and webs that looked like upside down hot air balloons. It was just magical. I always picture forest fairies in the spring, preparing to paint everything in bright colors. These spider webs looked like little camping sites, perfect sleeping areas for the fairies distributed all over the forest for their use as they work coloring everything.

The next plants to pop with color will be the ferns. They have gone through a transformation that included deep burgundy and now they are ready to lay down their lives for the new kids coming up...the ones the faeries paint when we are sleeping.