The Surprises of Spring

The tulip tree in the backyard is blooming now.

Let me re-phrase, as I doubt that sentence astonishes you as much as it does me. There are tulip tree blossoms on branches in my back yard where I thought the dogwood trees are.

I truly don't really remember that there was a tulip tree in our backyard. Probably because once the dogwoods start blooming, they're such show-offs that earlier, more modest bloomers get ignored.

But apparently it's there. And apparently, it's finally warm enough to coax it into flowering. Because it is. And it's lovely.

I also saw four violets in the very back yard today. They were my favorite kind -- the ones that are purple and white, the kind that never grew in our yard but only down the street growing up.