This is not the anniversary of this blog, but of my marriage.  Also, coincidentally, the date of the Oklahoma City bombing and Waco.  Stacey and I have been married 19 fun-filled years.  To illustrate how similar our minds have become, last Friday Stacey and I bought each other the same barbecue grill for each other as anniversary presents at different WalMarts. She called me while she was still in the store and we figured out what we'd done. So she put hers back before buying it because we don't need two grills.  The old grill had survived numerous disasters.  It had been knocked about by the tornado in 2003.  After we moved to the new parsonage, it was knocked over by straight-line winds, and Stacey backed over ti with my truck.  It was still running, but barely.  We had steaks the first night with the new one, and they were delicious.  We also got some morels from the side yard, which apparently grow out of the scraps from the wood pile.

I took my class out to Lowell's, where we saw and photographed many wildflowers. 

From Spring 2010

Pussytoes is an early bloomer.

From Spring 2010

Orange puccoon: this is still the only place I've seen it.  It appears to be spreading.

From Spring 2010

I think this is a female blue corporal, a dragonfly that is not even supposed to be here.

From Spring 2010

Yellow violet

From Spring 2010

Rue anemone

From Spring 2010

I love this tiger beetle eating an ant.

From Spring 2010

Dogtooth vioet

From Spring 2010

Toothwort

From Spring 2010

Virginia bluebells—first time I've seen it in the wild.

I've really been enjoying the motorcycle, riding to work and other destinations.  I took a loop north of Quincy after work one day.

From Spring 2010

I knew this waterfall was there, and it looks good now that everything has greened up.  Stacey has her own helmet now, and we can take some rides.

On Thursday I took the class to the arboretum at John Wood Community College.  One of the students spotted this flower, which is a new one for me.

From Spring 2010

Corn salad—we all got a kick out of that name.

Saturday we went to the Mardi Pals in Quincy, sponsored by Paw Pals.  The highlight is the dog parade.  I really enjoyed seeing the diversity of dog breeds.  Gretchen got some socialization, meeting many other dogs and people.  We ran into some friends, which was fun. 

From Spring 2010

The parade progresses.

From Spring 2010

Many dogs were in costume.  Click through to see many more in the online gallery.

From Spring 2010

Gretchen got nose-to-nose with this huge dog, which is apparently safe while it is peeing.

I took the camera club out to Lowell's on Sunday afternoon to shoot wildflowers.  Most were quite cooperative, the flowers that is, and there were a few in bloom that had not been out on Tuesday.    Click through to see more from this adventure.

From Spring 2010

Blue-eyed grass

From Spring 2010

Indian paintbrush

From Spring 2010

Bumblebee in flight.  I like the motion blur in the background, even if the subject is not perfectly focused.

From Spring 2010

A minilandscape of ferns.

From Spring 2010

Twisted vine. (Full disclosure: idea stolen from Tracey)

From Spring 2010

Gnarly gall on a cedar.  I want a hairdo just like that.

From Spring 2010

There are a million spring beauties in the woods, but these spoke to me.

Saturday we noticed a pair of doves nesting in the sweetgum tree, visible right out our back window. 

From Spring 2010

They were still building the nest at the time, but today they have two eggs.  I will be tracking them and reporting their progress to NestWatch.org when it's over.  Meanwhile, we'll enjoy seeing them at every meal.