The Brad

Well, that escalated quickly! 90+ degrees yesterday and up into the 80s today. Whew! Spring is officially here, with what feels like summer weather. And things are certainly popping too, with many shades of green emerging along with that oh so lovely pollen that makes my eyes itch and my nose water ;) When he came downstairs this morning, Ryan said he could see a haze of it outside, floating on the breeze.

I headed over to the Brad around 8:00 am this morning for a run. I'll be honest here and say I was hoping for a long run but it just didn't happen. The woods were beautiful, it was warm and sunny, there was a lovely breeze and flowers were coming up on the forest floor. But I had just gotten my period, my allergies were killing me and I'm sure the heat played a role too, and so frankly I just felt kind of awful. I slowly made my way through 9 lovely Bradbury miles and called it good. Thankfully there is still Saturday and Sunday to get in my 16 :)

Flora and fauna notes: Starflowers, buncherries emerging, blueberry bells out on the powerlines, wild strawberry flowers, bluets, violets, wild oats, false lily of the valley, solomon's seal, one lone painted trillium, and the first sightings of fringed polygala and ladyslippers out along the Connector! I love this time of year when there is so much to see on the forest floor! Also seen, one dog tick crawling along my sock line after the powerlines stretch of the BBU course (boo!) and a little garter snake.

Fringed polygala

Ladyslipper

Painted trillium