It's hard to believe that one "crop" of spring flowers is already done and we're on to the second wave. The crocuses, snowdrops and winter aconites have faded away and now we're seeing daffodils, grape hyacinths, the beginnings of tulips and the mystery plant here to the left. My plant identification skills aren't all they could be, this one looks familiar to me, but I have no idea what it is.

I was thrilled to spot a Yellow Shafted Northern Flicker in our backyard on Sunday afternoon. I have never seen one of these and had to look it up in the bird identification book to figure out what it was. Luckily I had the binoculars close at hand (though not the camera, sorry) and the bird stuck around for a while so I got a good look at him.

I've recently read all of the journal entries of Bill down at Enon Hall. Eight years ago he, his wife and young son purchased his ancestral home in Virginia's Northern Neck and they've been working on it ever since. I'm quite envious of his skills and the time to do so much of the work on the place themselves. It's really coming along and looks great. I did so appreciate hearing about their trials with contractors and their "loose" schedules/sense of time, delays in shipments, and other unexpected work slowdowns and holdups. It's nice to know that we're not the only ones experiencing these problems.