New Green. Nothing really comes close color-wise in my opinion Crayola should have it as one of their colors.

I call these tree caterpillars. I don’t know what kind of trees they are, possibly elms, but they are messy when they drop and they look exactly like caterpillars.

When the forsythia party is over there is nothing left but yellow confetti.

The other day the blue jays decided to come en masse to the feeding area. I think at one time I counted around 14. See how many you can find in this photo and don’t forget to look in the bushes and the tree. They are beautiful birds!

We had a few “firsts” this weekend. The first time the yard was mowed and the first hummingbird to arrive! I think this little guy is early since it’s been so cold so far this year. Yet, there he sat on the clothesline announcing his arrival and waiting patiently for his feeder to be hung out. Do you think the same birds return year after year? How else would he know where the feeder should be?

Before the yard mowing I managed to snap the wild violets growing in one area of the front yard. I love violets and I love that they grow in my yard!

And with the yard mowing came a delightful find! Morels!!!! And growing in a spot we never thought to look for them, right alongside the edging to the back yard. Remember my “Morel of the Story” post a few years back? If not, I think you should take the time to follow the link and read it! We haven’t seen morels since that year so we were really excited.

While Rick was mowing the front yard I heard the mowing stop and went to see what the problem was. Rick was off the tractor and walking toward me with more morels! These were growing right in the grass in the front yard!

We froze some them and a few went into our risotto. Delicious!

I know they look ugly but they are as yummy as they are ugly!

For the next few days my mind will be whirling with all I have to do to get ready to leave on Thursday for our trip to Nicaragua and Panama! I am not ready!!!

Must have been growing conditions for morels this year, I harvested a boatload of them myself over the week-end.  Was like a treasure hunt!  Woe that I didn’t get to your violets before you cut the grass… I’ve got a recipe for violet jelly (jam?), but I’m not sure I’ll have enough flowers to make it…....

Maggie, where? In your yard? We tried looking in our woods but found nothing. We still have violets after mowing, just not as many. My neighbor’s yard down the street is basically ALL VIOLETS so maybe you can come and grab some of theirs.

I thought of you when I found the morels. Glad you found some of your own. We ate lunch at the winery yesterday—-yummy! Loads of people!!!

First load I found near my compost pile, got a whole basketfull of them on Saturday, including one that was bigger than my hand.  Brought them to share with a fellow food friend.  Then, on Sunday, while clearing out one of my garden beds I found two more, and two more, and two more.  Next think ya know I was crawling around under the forsythia on my hands and knees in a morel mushroom forest! 
Oh!  If your neighbor will let me pick and I get more than one jar of jam I’ll give her one.  LMK!  Same neighbor with the fig trees?  I’m still interesting in adopting one of those to a good home!  ~wink

Wow, you made out better than we did. And here I thought we found a lot, but you hit the mother lode! Different neighbor than the figgy one but down at that end of the road. Actually I think the violets there are fading a bit now. I would think it would take A LOT of violets to make one thing of jam!

We are going to Toronto in June and this is where we often see blue jays, they are such gorgeous coloured birds.  Tonight we walked through the forest next to our house and saw lots of really pretty wild violets.  I hope you have a great holiday.

Joyce, they really are beautiful birds! Great! A trip to Toronto!
Thank you! I will be blogging on vacation. At least I plan to ...

Hah! my verification word is plane!

The blue jays are so pretty.  We have both scrub and Steller’s jays visiting our garden.  The scrub jays definitely rule the roost!