Nothing like a Crocus in the clear light of early spring in Maine. They burst out of the ground and unfold to such brightness, while the grass is still brown and the trees are still bare, pushing last year’s leaf litter right out of the way. This snail’s eye view turns two emerging buds into colossuses of crocus color, commanding their horizon.

And just a few yards away we find one in full bloom, newly opened, and quite full of itself…brazenly flashing that impossible bright burning orange reproductive apparatus, shouting to be noticed. No, the Crocus is not to be denied…any more than the spring it heralds…leading the charging army of blooms, buds, new leaves and shoots, that will sweep southern Maine, willy nilly, into the new season.

Canon SX20IS, 28mm equivalent field of view and Super-macro mode. f4 and f5.7 @ 1/500th @ ISO 80. Processed for intensity and clarity in Lightroom. (And very thankful I am for the flip out LCD that allows for shots like the first without getting down on my stomach!)

Looking back, I see that both the Crocus and Easter were considerably earlier last year. Easter is an accident of the calendar, but the crocus are delayed, by a full week, by late spring snows. Still the feeling of spring is finally in the air in Maine, and Easter is fast approaching. A season of hope, both in nature and in the spirit…a putting off of the old dead shell of the world and a putting on of new born glory. Like the impatient Crocus, spring, in nature, and rebirth in the spirit, will neither be denied. Happy Sunday!