the days have been lusciously warm ever since mothers' day on sunday. seems like seasons just switch on nowadays instead of slowly shifting. in november snow fell and boom! — it was winter. spring came just as abruptly, one day the streets were dry and clear and that was it. and now, summer. or spring proper. i have sunburn on my collarbones and birches are folding open their tiny, sticky, green leaves and dripping sap into bottles tied to cut branches. cranes cry in the marshlands and swans are migrating back, too.
it was too hot for raking so i took to the woods in search of mushrooms. false morels are starting to pop up, and i also wanted to find a cinder conk, or chaga, but they keep eluding me. i enjoyed walking through the forest with arms bare, no mosquitoes yet. it is bone dry out there, the air smelled of hay and pine resin. tufts of winter fur from various animals were everywhere.
a huge, black adder nearly tripped me over, cutting across the dirt road right in front of me. i was lost in thought, eyeing the pebbles on the ground, but the snake was considerate enough to hiss at me before slithering away. i wish i had managed to get a photo. an adder as wide as my skinny fist, almost. we seem to have mostly the black variety around, not too many of the 'regular' zig-zag backed ones.
i did get a photo of someone equally beautiful and about the same colour. just look at the detail on the rear of that fantastic bug, who is totally posing for this shot, by the way.
hopefully i will not wake up to heavy artillery fire again, like the past two mornings. there is a military testing ground not far from here, and it has been like a war zone for days now, rapid fire alternating with what sounds like missiles. peace and quiet in the countryside, yeah right.
