April seemed determined to linger on and on. She seemed sullen this year. Finally, on a clear day, the cleanup from February’s gift of ice was done and the overwhelming piles of broken limbs and down trees were gone. In the last moments of that very long day we had to decide where to dispose of the last of the pine logs. The crazy result is our new rustic bench.
You can’t tell from the photo, but it has been carefully placed among viburnum and dogwood to the back and sides. Ferns grow near and groundcover will fill in. In time, it will just be part of the growing forest floor. For added charm, I found another chunk of pine log for a plant table. I will post another photo when the “room” is more decorated!
I was sad that the tree, which already had considerable size over 40 years ago, was so damaged in the storm. But as I have found through the years, once removed, it is hard to really remember a tree for so much new fills the eye. The young dogwoods are just coming into bloom now and will become that new and different focal point on the hillside.
April did bring fresh greens and early wonder-full bloom. Bluebells, Bleeding hearts, Violets, Trollius and Vincas followed Jonquils and Lenten Roses.
And then, an almost spiteful ending came with pounding, relentless rain drowning the grounds and roads. After days and nights of storm, it was such a relief to change the calendar page on a sunny day and enjoy the beauty of lingering raindrops on growing leaves
The afternoon was spent keeping appointments. Then clouds came again and rain poured through sunlight. We were driving home, rounded a corner, came out of the woods and were startled by the beauty so poorly captured by camera. 
Rainbows! In them I see all the promises of compassion – grace and mercy – for the storms of life. I love them! Have you seen a rainbow lately?
Elaine, you are right about having something new to focus on when you lose a tree. We lost so many in that ice storm, and then two more this week from too much rain, but we’re finding more sunlight being let into the woods which might give the younger trees a better chance to grow better. Too many of our trees have shallow roots–I guess because of the mountainous soil–there are large boulders protruding everywhere in our woods. I have not seen a rainbow in almost two years. It was a double rainbow on Martha’s Vineyard. I filmed it. It’s under “Rainbows” on my Blog if you want to see it. Yours is stunning and seems quite low in the sky–something unusual I think, at least for me.
Hi Elaine, isn’t spring grand? Love the rainbow too.
P.S. The size/font metal stamp I used for the spoon markers is 3MM (1/8″) Gothic Uppercase.