The Surprise April Snowstorm

Did you ever have a day when you saw so many beautiful things that it was excruciating just to pick one photo? And then you tried for two, and even TWO wasn't enough. It had to be three or more? And even THEN, you left some amazing things out? Yes, it was THAT kind of a day!

My husband and I decided to run some errands in town, go for a little hike, and get takeout for lunch. We had some things we needed to buy, and that meant going into actual stores, wearing masks and gloves, and dodging people who strolled too close, which was weird, as you all may already know. (I already HAD a bit of a social avoidance thing going, and none of this is helping at all, believe you me.)

So he did some of the errands and I did others of them. It was my first time in an actual store since mid-March. I found the store a scary place, with people barking orders at me: stay behind the plastic pane, stay behind the blue dot on the floor! I felt awkward and slow and ill trained for such things, and ashamed and reprimanded too, because I didn't know the new way well enough yet for it to come automatically to me.

And then we went hiking at Fisherman's Paradise, and it felt so good to be outdoors. Everything is starting to green up along the water, and there were red trilliums (Trillium erectum) galore in the one spot I found. Did you know that they have to grow in a spot for around 15 years before they bloom, and that they can live up to 30 years? I have included a picture of one in the extras. So glorious, so fancy, so RED!

We got takeout at Jim's in Bellefonte, and I went over and photographed a beautiful statue at the Catholic Church across the road, in front of a really pretty pink magnolia tree, while my husband got a chef salad for me (NOM NOM NOM!) and an Italian hoagie for himself. Sorry, you don't get to see those pictures because I am running out of slots - neither the statue nor the chef salad, which was my first one in well over a month!!!!

Rain was in the forecast, but it started to flurry around just as we finished up our errands and headed home. We were sitting at the kitchen table eating our takeout, and I was so happy with my chef salad that I could have burst! Suddenly, I saw a flash of red and a huge bird out of the corner of my eye. It turns out it was a male pileated woodpecker, and you may see him in the extras.

And then it REALLY began to snow. It snowed harder and harder, and the snow flakes turned huge, some of the biggest I've seen. And it looked like Christmas all day, and we sat and looked out the window and felt happy and snug in our little house, while the cat purred contentedly and went long-paw on my husband's lap.

You may see my wintry window view above: some snow, a Norway spruce tree to the left, the neighbor across the street's flowering crabapple (I think), all pink and delectable, and - surprise! - covered in snow! By the time it was done, there was much more snow than this. But by 8 or 9 pm, it started to rain instead, and the rain began to take the snow. Talk about an ephemeral experience! Wow!

So here were the three pictures I can show you for this day: the April snowstorm, the red trillium, and the pileated woodpecker with his huge black body and his fancy red head. Wasn't it a splendid day indeed?

The soundtrack tune is for the surprise April Snowstorm: Chicago, with Baby, What a Big Surprise.