It is a cold damp day today. A bit on the raw side, I set a wood fire in the stove to drive the damp chill away. On my walk today I investigated the vernal pools again. Last weekend, I found wood-frog eggs and some of those are hatching out today. When I lifted a mass up in my hand, it almost disintegrated and I could see miniature tadpoles within the mass. On the outer edges they were beginning to break free and swim away from my hand. I also found some salamander egg masses this time. They must have been laid some time during the week, even though it was pretty dry. Those masses were still quite solid and firm when I held them.

The trees are budding forth. I have noticed the changes on the hills when I drive into work. I used to attribute the first green to the poplars, but I have noticed that the black cherry has budded out first, and then the poplars. The hills reflect a very subtle reversal of the fall color scheme. The maples shed a glimmer of red and orange from their flowers, then their little leaves unfurling, and the beech buds shimmer golden as they begin to swell.

Yesterday, I took a close look at an emerging maple leaf, and was struck with the similarity of the human hand. I know, it has a palmate leaf shape, and I use that when helping children to learn to identify maples, by putting our hands over a leaf so they can see what that means. But yesterday, as I looked at the little wrinkly red leaf opening up, it looked so much like the wrinkly red hand of my children just when they were born. They say patterns in nature repeat themselves over and over. It points out to me how interconnected we are to the natural world around us.