4.7.2011 Ride: Blossoms

This morning, Colene posted a comment asking if I set out on my ride with a theme in mind or whether I wait to see what comes my way.  Normally, it is the latter, though today I thought it might be the former as today's ride was going to be a short one in the neighborhood.  I had intended to use a couple of historic pictures from my ride yesterday which I didn't use. 
But this morning at breakfast, Rachel said there was a pretty moth on the outside door.  And, then, as I was on my morning walk I saw that our sour cherry tree and our apple trees were in

full bloom. My theme for the day suddenly was born.

Apple Blossom

As I was snapping various shots of the apple blossoms, I heard bees but I had a heck of a time finding any.  Finally, I spotted one but it was up too high for me to photograph.

Apple Buds

I planted our apple trees about 18 years ago.  The past few years we haven't seen too many apples.  This year, the trees are full of blossoms and I'm hoping for the best. 

Sour Cherry Blosso

The sour cherry tree is about 12 years old.  Sweet cherry trees won't grow in our climate so I tried the sour cherry.  They are really quite delicious right off the tree though Carol finds them a bit too tart for her taste. The birds love them as well and can pick the tree clean in a day so I stick a big plastic owl in to deter them.  There still ends up being plenty for the birds.

Riding by the pasture, this tuft of horse hair caught in the barb and blowing in the wind really caught my eye.  In real time, with the hairs quickly skirting about, it seemed as if it was the tail of a comet. 

This petal was from a wild flower in a yard.  It grows short enough to be missed when the lawn is mowed.  It is only about a 1/2 inch wide.




These blossoms were a perfect subject for this grey day where I was also on the weary side.   The historic pictures will have to wait for another day.



Today's Ride:  65mins.  11.14 miles.  66 degrees. 13mph wind.  Miles YTD: 1,783.72

A word on layout:  This blog host can be frustrating at times as I try to lay out the text and pictures with the same care that I try to come up with the words and take the pictures.  But the format will confound me as I try to move pictures and arrange text and eventually I will have to give up having words and sentences spilling in a disarray among the pictures.  Today seemed to be especially problematic.