The Voice of the Turtle

"For, lo, the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone;
the flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtle
is heard in our land..."
--Song of Solomon 2:11-12 (KJV)

Yesterday on my walk, I saw turtles out again at Salmon Creek. A sure sign of spring!

As a child, I loved the idea of turtles vocalizing, especially since our pet box turtle never uttered a sound. It made me think of an entire chorus of turtles, singing with utter un-selfconsciousness.

Now, of course, I know the poem refers to turtledoves (in the original Hebrew)...
but part of me still wishes I could hear the turtles' song.

Spring at Salmon Creek

It's spring at Salmon Creek! Jeff and I walked until we came to a stop. The trail had flooded. All this rain we've gotten in the last few days fed the creek and it detoured onto every low-lying piece of land in its path.

We glimpsed cormorants fishing in the water and an eagle atop a very tall tree. Also heard tons of birds singing their little throats out. Yes, I believe spring is here to stay.

Around the Cul-De-Sac

I typed in the title of this post, and then googled cul-de-sac on a whim. The original meaning made me giggle!
Cul-de-sac (literally "butt of bag" in Catalan) is an expression of Catalan origin, says Wikipedia.

This photo is called "Still Life of Murphy & Forsythia." Murphy could care less about what cul-de-sac means, he just wants to leap up and finish our walk.

We managed to take a walkabout between rain drops this afternoon. But our rain garden grew mighty full. Should I be watching for an invasion of bullfrogs?