One Little Turtle

Look who's back! This quaint little fellow visits my yard in the Spring, and this year he appeared on Mother's Day week-end. What a delightful surprise!

Sir Turtle has the most beautiful designs on his back and face, and is so astute in his demeanor. He seemed to enjoy having his picture made.

Here's Aussie, taking a peek at our visitor.

After visiting with the kitties, who were intrigued by varying degrees, Sir Turtle sat appraising the green plastic yard rake for quite a while.

Mr. Humphreys says "What is it?"

Then turtle headed for cover,
and burrowed into the pinestraw

under our persimmon tree.

This turtle is very talented at disappearing.

When the cats and I searched for him later, he was nowhere to be found.

Aussie says

"Where'd he go?"

Wiley says
"Where'd who go?"

Guess we'll see him next spring!

Mother Nature's Balancing Act

While on the subject of eggs ... Today is the First Day of Spring! I hope everyone popped out of bed bright and early this morning and balanced an egg or two! Although I usually balance a whole bunch of eggs on the first day of Spring, this morning I had but one single egg in the fridge. So I placed it on the window sill over the kitchen sink, and there she sits, beautiful, proud and well-balanced.

It's my understanding that the tradition of balancing eggs on the morning of the Vernal Equinox began centuries ago. Farmers gathering eggs noticed on a particular day in Spring that the eggs in each hen's nest would be balanced on end. What joy! There are few things in life as joyful as a balanced egg! That's how, in days of old, the common folk knew that Spring had arrived.

This year, the Vernal Equinox occurred at 6:44 AM, and the closer to the exact time of the equinox, the easier it is to balance eggs. Later in the day, it becomes a much more tedious exercise, and if you have balanced eggs in place, they will eventually plop over onto their sides when the magic time has passed.

And ... yum, yum ... do scrambled, fried, or poached eggs taste better on the first day of Spring? My opinion is, yes they do! A perfectly astronomically balanced egg is bound to have an extraordinarily yummy taste. However, this is only a guess. I'm always too busy balancing eggs to cook any on the First Day of Spring.