Happy Saint Patrick’s Day

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Tufted titmouse about 7am, with 5″ of snow on the ground. We had another inch by noon, and initially thought we were snowed in for the day. Again, schools and government offices were all closed. But we were able to get out in the afternoon to attend the event commemorated a bit later.

Mayapples in bloom

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We’ve had quite a lot of blooms on the mayapple plants this year. Maybe last year when I could only see one I just wasn’t looking early enough or carefully enough.

Greening Up

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After exceeding 90 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday, the rest of the week saw a dramatic greening up. Even “up north” near Gettysburg, I saw a big change, having taken pictures both Wednesday and Saturday of the ridge to the west of the Shamrock Restaurant at Thurmont, Maryland.

Wednesday 10 April:
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Saturday 13 April:
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Clematis, by the front door


Note of May 4th: I took several shots of the clematis over several days, using the trial-and-error method of learning how to use my digital SLR camera. In the picture below, I manipulated some raw file settings in a photo editing program called Darktable, trying to improve one of those pictures.

Another shot taken about the same time (added 6/19/2012):