Thursday, April 23, 2009

April in Indiana






















Sure, Billie Holiday never sang about April in Indiana but it is getting inspiring and gorgeous here in our state. We love red bud trees and there is even a street named Red Bud Lane off of 82nd St. The last 2 pictures are from there. It's looking good but maybe not quite at its peak yet.

5 comments:

Dawn O said...

Very beautiful pictures.

R. said...

I love the picture with the fence. Gorgeous!

I complain all winter, but I'd miss the four seasons if I lived somewhere warmer. 3 out of 4 in Indiana are beautiful, so I guess that's not too bad.

Stacy said...

I love those pics! We've got a pretty little red blooming crab apple tree in the backyard and are hoping to plant a small magnolia in the front this year! Yay for spring!

WYA! said...

We agree about enjoying the seasons Rebecca- it's just that winter SEEMS like it is 3 times as long as the other seasons.

Dr. Harl Delos said...

I've never understood why the plant called "american mandrake" by some - strange name, since it is not like real mandrake at all - is called May Apple.

It always peaks in April. If I still lived in Indiana, I'd be stopping along a certain road in Blackford County, and heading into the woods to pick about a peck of May Apples. That wouldn't be any threat to the continued propogation of the stand there; that woods probably would have 20 bushels of the fruit or more.

They say that May Apples are poisonous, and I'm willing to concede that they are cathartic - they'll physic you really good - but if you make a 9-inch pie, one or two pieces of it serves as a wonderful spring tonic, and the pie is incredibly tasty as well.

There's little as pretty as a stand of the May Apples, dappled by the sun in a fairly open woods, mind you, and although I love the beautiful pics that Mrs. WYA! took, there's a prettier one in my head of that Blackford County woods.

Take a look in my left ear; maybe you can see it. I think it's closer to my left side than my right.

Euell Gibbons (a name most kids wouldn't recognize these days, much to their detriment) said that Indiana was a far better place to scavenge for wild foods than a south seas island, where you were pretty much limited to breadfruit.

When I lived in Wells County, we had a wild gooseberry plant, like none I've ever seen anywhere else, that was incredibly pretty and produced wonderful pies. I've wished, over and over, that I'd taken some of the gooseberries and produced starts, and given them around to various members of the family. A couple of years after I moved away, the new owner got himself a bulldozer and made himself a mediocre farm pond where he had a magnificent gooseberry. Heathen!