Winter has blown back into Wisconsin, but signs of spring still persist...like the Pasqueflower, one of the earliest spring ephemerals.
My mind is not in some positive fluff and nature mode to utter any profound or witty blogging. In fact my creativity and motivation is stifled to muster any sort of blog worthiness. (Ha! What creativity?) However I feel compelled to get in the saddle and do something...
Pasque Flowers, exquisitely pleasing to my eye, are a favorite harbinger of Wisconsin spring for me. Last year I was tipped off to a location where hundreds of specimens can be seen in the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest just north of Lake LaGrange. I returned there on Friday to greet the blooms. They were not yet at peak, but impressive still with at least one hundred plants present.
Others report this unique prairie wildflower blooming now at the prairie parcel of Pheasant Branch Conservancy and Walking Iron Park in Dane County. I have also seen a few atop Bald Bluff in the Kettle Moraine Oak Opening State Natural Area (Jefferson County) this year. In years past, I was first introduced to this beauty along the Prairie Trail at Nelson Dewey State Park in Grant County.
The blustery wind and chill is nudging me to stay indoors today despite this being my first "free day" in the last four. It may be a long wait for the sun. Better thicken my skin and brave the outdoor world where something better awaits despite the cold.
My mind is not in some positive fluff and nature mode to utter any profound or witty blogging. In fact my creativity and motivation is stifled to muster any sort of blog worthiness. (Ha! What creativity?) However I feel compelled to get in the saddle and do something...
Pasque Flowers, exquisitely pleasing to my eye, are a favorite harbinger of Wisconsin spring for me. Last year I was tipped off to a location where hundreds of specimens can be seen in the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest just north of Lake LaGrange. I returned there on Friday to greet the blooms. They were not yet at peak, but impressive still with at least one hundred plants present.
Others report this unique prairie wildflower blooming now at the prairie parcel of Pheasant Branch Conservancy and Walking Iron Park in Dane County. I have also seen a few atop Bald Bluff in the Kettle Moraine Oak Opening State Natural Area (Jefferson County) this year. In years past, I was first introduced to this beauty along the Prairie Trail at Nelson Dewey State Park in Grant County.
The blustery wind and chill is nudging me to stay indoors today despite this being my first "free day" in the last four. It may be a long wait for the sun. Better thicken my skin and brave the outdoor world where something better awaits despite the cold.
