Crimson clover!

I need a reminder that it hasn't always been raining. A couple of weekends ago, while Benjamin was out of town, I finally had time to get pictures of the crimson clover. It was a good thing too, because it was gone by the middle of the week.

I have never seen anything like it before - we have white clover and light purple clover up in Washington, but not this brilliant clover.

This isn't a great shot - taken out of the car window while stopped at a stop light - but it gives you an idea of the way it carpeted the sides of the road. Gigantic patches. It was so incredibly lovely, while it lasted.

Now the clover is gone, and the honeysuckle is blooming. It too grows rampant on the sides of the road, climbing over the trees and bushes. Ahh.... hunny-suckle, as Pooh might say.

Bluebirds and red clover

I am very excited because we have bluebirds here in Arkansas. I have never lived anywhere with bluebirds, and now we appear to have a pair nesting within sight of our bedroom window. The house behind us (with the shed where Creamsicle holed up during her AWOL stunt last fall) had a large garden with a few nesting boxes, and that is where I have seen a male bluebird several mornings now. Alas, they are just a bit too far away for my digital zoom, so all I get are little blue blurs when I try to take a picture. Instead, here is a picture from Bill of the Birds that is pretty similar to what I can see through binoculars (picture from the April 3rd blog entry).

We also have carpets of crimson clover along the roadsides that I am dying to take pictures of. Alas again, it is only on the roadsides. I may have found a patch that I can reach safely for picture taking - if i do, you will be sure to know. For now, the pictures on Wikipedia will have to be enough.