309 Comments

I was at your event in Seattle tonight - front row. Thank you so much for being here - loved how you handled your overly talkative host. Seattle loves you as you may have guessed!

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Front row? Pea green with envy, Nicki!

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I bought a VIP ticket for that purpose.

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Morning, Lynell. I am even a darker shade of pea green envy. This is the second time she's been in either Seattle or Portland that I've had a conflict with scheduling.

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Same here

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Yikes, Ally. That is so sad! Third time will be a charm? I hope so.

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Ally, I was unable to attend when she was in Houston. Hope that she comes back.

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Nicki, what a great experience! I’m so happy for you.

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Thank you. I jumped at the chance to see her in person ! So did a lot of other people - other place was packed!

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How freaking cool!!! For the second time I've known of, the Professor has been in Seattle when I have an unavoidable conflict!

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I get so fricken nostalgic for Seattle. I was conceived there, but born in Boston, and I lived in Seattle from 2 months to probably a little less than a month short of 4, and the year I was 7, and a couple of months into 8. Been back sporadically ever sense, the last time in '15. I want to drive out one of these years.

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Born in Seattle-ish (Bellevue) lived there until 3 and then off to the coast of California where I’ve been ever since. Seattle is awesome!

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One of the things that strikes me is the character of my old neighborhood--and much of the rest of Seattle remains the same, despite the fact that houses have been shoehorned into places that were parts of peoples' yards before the millennium. Of course, the traffic is awful, and getting to the ferry to San Juan can be miserable. The last time I went, in '15, I made it onto the ferry (after parking my car because I didn't tihkn I could get it on, and I didn't need it there) with maybe a minute to spare.

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I can understand that. I haven't spent a lot of time in Seattle, but for the little bit that I have (for training classes and for meeting friends at the airport--we had to plan for an unknown arrival time because our friends from Portugal were flying on buddy passes and had two days to goof around) I have loved it. I have a similar desire; I'd love to drive out to see our friends in New Hampshire, then come back by way of a different route.

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Different route back is definitely part of the idea. I have friends all the way down the west coast to LA, and a friend in Arizona, and I'm dying to see more of Utah... much of which I haven't seen since those long x-country trips when I was a little kid, and then when I was in college.

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We felt the same way

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Nicki, how did you find her book tour information?

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This wasn’t a book tour. It was the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival highlighting various people who represent different ideas or perspectives who discussed challenging issues and sought to broaden the public’s understanding of them and possibly suggest possible solutions. This took place in downtown Seattle at the Amazon meeting center. They filmed and taped the sessions for live podcasts.

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Nicki, How did you find out about the tickets?

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Actually, I saw it on Facebook and clicked to get a ticket immediately.

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What Facebook site?

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Lol. I had to explain what peepers were to someone just the other day.

A definite sign of spring.

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I don’t know what that means either. First I’ve heard the idea.

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“Peepers” are a chorus of tiny frogs chirping for mates in early spring. Often in symphony with other frog species the mixed sounds are unique and wonderful. One of the first signs of spring in Maine.

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I live Downeast of Heather on MDI. The peepers and the tree frogs present a symphony all night long and yesterdayI heard the first white throated sparrow in my yard. The daffis are happy swaying in the breeze and the forsythias an lilacs are filling the air with great beauty. The service berries are about to pop and the lobstermen are setting traps throughout th Bay. Spring has arrived and Life is good!

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And anout damn time. Here in Unity, ME it was sub 20°F 2 nights last week and in the 30s several. Enough already. Time to get some plants in.

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Here in NY the weather has been really strange - like yours! But no real, actual, winter this year.

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Remember - no tomatoes in the ground until Memorial Day. Awful to wait but that's the safest way to plant them.

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Rick, I miss the lilacs of my Kansas childhood. Here (near Houston). The only lilacs have no smell, just good looks.

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Wish I could send you some - mine are just getting into bloom and they DO smell great.

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Maggie, thanks for the thought.

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In New Hampshire I'd always go around to the south side of the house - the sunny side - and see if the crocuses had started pushing through the old snow. If they were, then I'd dash to the front and check on my lilies and tulips. Lilacs wouldn't be far behind. Alas, down here in Florida it's a different set of flora but never so charming and pretty as northern New England and its deep, rich soils.

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I'm in southern ME. We still have peepers, but it's been years since I've heard a whippoorwill. Do you still have them on MDI?

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Here in the Hudson Valley of the great state of New York as well. When my son was a toddler , we would walk down our Heritage Trail (state-sponsored walking and biking path built on abandoned railroad tracks) and stop to see how many peepers he could see at the edges of the swampy ponds. He was always delighted when he squatted down by them for a closer look and they would suddenly splash away.

Another sign of spring was spotting the gray heron standing sentinel over the biggest pond.

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Great memory.

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May 5·edited May 5

In Metrowest, MA as well. Peepers started more than a month ago here and are still going!!

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I'm also in Metrowest, and I've heard 'em a few times. I've heard other frogs in Beaver Brook Reservation. Fresh Pond is full of turtles, and I saw my first this year quite early--March 14th, and I've taken a slew of photographs of them. Mostly, if not all the invasive, but beautiful red eared sliders. I may have seen a few painted turtles... I've not seen any ribbon snakes, which have a place they come out of for the summer next to a swamp in Beaver Brook Park, where I've seen them probably three years out of the last 4-5.

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And when in a big pond, they're really really loud. Our farm pond was almost a 1/4 mile away from the house but you would have sworn they were all in the same room. THE sign of spring.

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Yeah, my "local" peepers inhabit a wetland that is about 1/2 mile from my house.

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And of course in Rhode Island. Have been making a glorious racket for well a couple of weeks. Seems early to me. Always welcome.

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We have them here in Georgia, too. ☺️

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Actually, Berry, the frogs themselves are called spring peepers, which, calling together, sound like a chorus.

https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Amphibians/Spring-Peeper

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Thank you for explaining that. For me, in Oregon, first sign of real spring is the arrival of the migratory rufus hummingbirds. Their "airshows" and unique chatter plus the trilliums of course... if you live rural. City folks won't know this here since they have the Ana hummingbird year round.

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Hello, Neighbor! Here in Eugene (well, for me, southwest Eugene) we're close enough to protected wetlands and undeveloped hills to have the peepers. I will never forget the first time I was on rural graveyard patrol in the spring, and heard the bullfrog chorus out at Fern Ridge Lake. I had NEVER heard that!

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Frog symphonies (peepers plus) here in Vermont too.

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I always think fondly as a (former) Michigan girl of my first Spring trip to Vermont (in law school) and how my hosts explained the peepers. I have been in love with peepers ever since.

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Spring peepers are in upstate New York, too! They can be incredibly loud. We used to live near a wetland and it was quite a cacophony.

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Interesting to learn about the chirping frogs you have. We have symphonies occurring here in Central Oregon now too. This is new to me coming from Denver Colorado and is absolutely the delightful!

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I have been in Maine since 1975 and now reside in coastal Washington County. If you haven't heard this cacophony before, especially if you are an urban dweller, it can be startling, fascinating, and hilarious all at once. Rather than post a link, there is a useful video recording titled "Remote Learning Southern Maine's Common Frog Calls" by Josh Delcourt that isolates calls of the different species. Just like birders learn to ID by calls, the same goes for frogs and toads. Come to Maine in the spring - whenever that is!

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In Oregon as well. I had heard them for many years patrolling rural (and not-so-rural) Lane County; when we moved into our current house (gasp, 30 years ago) I heard them at home for the first time.

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Thank you

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Sometimes the "peeping" is so loud as to be deafening. But it's a sound I grew up loving. As a kid it meant summer is coming soon - no more school!

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Tree frogs.

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For the record tree frogs are not Peepers. The peepers live in the Vernal ponds/etc. Here's the difference in sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTB01INM6rI. and tree frog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bzotS1ow0Q

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According to this NWF site, Debra, spring peepers ARE tree frogs.

https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Amphibians/Spring-Peeper

This one, too: https://www.britannica.com/animal/spring-peeper

There are different types of tree frogs; peepers are one type.

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Wow! Thanks !!

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Common names for species are often regional. I have noticed that with wildflowers, the same common name for some very different plants. I find the sounds of nature delightful. Think of all the sounds of water; the musical tinkle of a small drop in a tiny stream, the eerie, echoey drip of a stalactite in a cave pool, the lap under a dock, the patter of rain, Niagara falls, rumbling, crashing surf, etc, etc, etc.

On another note, I still experience the sounds of spring, but it is becoming decidedly more silent.

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Marian, i didn't know what peepers were either. There is one and now another has joined the chorus here in Salem, Oregon. And I am more than green with envy at a front row seat to hear Heather.

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You and me both, Michele. Next time she's in Portland, I will pick you up and we'll go see her together! We'll draft KarenRN to go as well and have a LFAA group meet.

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Suzanne. here(near Houston), it’s the battles of grackles and blue jays looking for mates. Much more raucous.

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Suzanne, when you explained it did you wonder what else they have missed? The natural world is growing so small in so many.

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Yes, I did. So many folks miss out on the natural wonders.

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Here on Martha's Vineyard, MA, we call them pinkletinks. Mention hearing the first pinkletinks to people from anywhere else and they don't know WTH you're talking about. Luckily a local naturalist wrote a short column about them a few years ago: https://www.mvtimes.com/2019/05/08/what-is-a-pinkletink/.

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I always love when the peepers are back! A real confirmation that Spring has arrived! About 3 weeks ago here in Southern Maryland

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I guess not every area in the country has peepers. Love to hear them and yeah sure does mean spring.

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I googled it—would never have guessed frogs; thought it was some kind of crocus.

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I’m always pleased to hear you say/write that you’re ’taking time off.’ Your body and brain and spirit deserve such holidays as you may offer yourself.

These are days filled with deeply concerning actions and reactions of humans wrapped in their separate worlds and views of what is ‘right’ from

their perspective.

I’d personally like everyone to take a week OFF. Recalibrate their connections / responsibility to HUMANITY.

My greatest power continues to be Prayer and Equanimity in my own engagement with the world. Leaving my distress “at the door” to avoid polluting my home and my friendships.

Sleep well. I care deeply for your well being as you carry very helpful truth in your gifts through your Letters from an American.

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Such a lovely photo!

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Take all the time you need, Dr Richardson. 💓 This historical blog may be enriching you and us in different ways but you need not break your health over it. 🙏 The mach0-mouthed nattering nabobs of narcissism will be around to skewer another day. 😉

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Well said, Ned.

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Thank you, ¡Ally! 🙂 Hope all is going well on the "opposite" coast. 😉

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‘Tis going well for us.

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Nothing finer than the Spring chorus of peepers, song birds and waterfowl singing across still water. And all the leaves emerging.

Thank you for all the you do.

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Michigan, known for cars, football, swing voting, and now a controversial, admirable woman governor. Also a climate much like that of Maine. Thanks for the pic. I much enjoy your seemingly tireless, historically perspective writing.

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Michigan is also known for trillium, morel mushrooms and maple syrup.

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And cherries :) My mom was from Traverse City.

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YES! Wonderful Cherries!! We are so lucky to live 20 miles from TC! Your lucky mom, growing up here! And I am so lucky my mom taught me to make pies when I was 11 years old. I put up cherries, blueberries, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, apples and apricots. A friend makes the best blackberry jam (which he gives in exchange for an apple pie).

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When I worked at elementary school, I used to tell kids about my snacks when I got home from school. Go climb a tree, we had apples, mulberries, blackberries, cherries, pecans, peaches in our back yard. No going to the store to get Twinkies, or soda. They looked at me like i was from outer space.

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What a wonderful education you gave them! And wonderful childhood for you! Mmmm!

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May 5·edited May 5

We were poor but didn't really know it that much because we never went hungry and parents worked their butts off. Just had very little stuff (unlike an only child cousin). She envied us and we envied her. Sort of funny as adults. Who knew???

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Growing up in Michigan, picking strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries that my mother put up every year. My daughters-in-law know how, but the time just isn't there for them to continue the tradition of home-made jams and jellies. But we still take the grandkids to the local farms here in MA to pick the berries.

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Oh, yes, strawberries! And rhubarb for pies and jam!

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And, the sweet cherries are always ready just in time for my birthday.

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And (clearly I have not eaten breakfast yet), I make pies for a group of hunter fishermen in exchange for venison, blue gill, salmon, and (lucky this year), elk. Don't get me started on vegetables (mmmm) or swimming in Lake Michigan, and hiking the dunes. (Sadly, our skiing is now lousy, if at all though, with global warming. Another reason to be on HCR's site).

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Interesting trades, MaryPat! I used to trade with two deputies who were either avid fishermen or hunters. Neither of their wives liked fish or game meat, and my wife's family raised beef. I'd trade some of our half cow for some of their bounty. It was a good deal.

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And cherry trees, apple trees, blueberries, robins, lakes, also we have peepers right now too! I love spring in MI!

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Gordon, Michigan has the Great Lakes! And all of the wonderful inland lakes too! Had my first swim yesterday.

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One of my favorite artists is M.C. Escher, who created an illustration called “Three Worlds”. I have never before seen a photo which came so close to his art.

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/118145/three-worlds

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Spot on, Lisa Hague.

HCR’s photo made me whistle; and,

I’d sure like her photo as a screen saver:-)

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That was my first thought too. That, and Monet’s water lilies https://www.wikiart.org/en/claude-monet/water-lilies-1915

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Wow! The photo (by HCR?) echoes that.

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As a 70 year old woman who has been a lifelong serious amateur photographer - and a former video news editor - let me say what a great photograph this is.

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It is nice to hear that my 66 year old "oooo, pretty" is backed up by a serious photographer!

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Thank you Ally. I lived in Portland for many years (worked for KOIN TV) and miss that beautiful State. I'm retired and live in Northern Idaho now.

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We have peepers here in the Midwest, too.

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Lovely photo of the vernal pool. I’ll be disappointed if I don’t hear any peepers in our new place. I love to hear the froggies sing!

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We just bought a new house in June. So relieved to find that if we walk the dog up the street, the peepers are SINGING loudly by the stream that goes under our road.

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I hear them now, though I think the tree frogs larger kin have now taken over the chorus.

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Safe travels

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Just a start on those leaves. Soon you won’t be able to see the sky in that same reflection. We’re a little further along here in Western Washington, but only a bit.

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Was expecting some reference to the May 4, 1970 shooting of students at Kent State (because May 4, and students once again demonstrating at colleges. Now that I am 80 years old, I remember too well and am watching the replay. At least someone learned that calling in the Natoinal Guard isn't such a great idea.

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Kaia, I understand your sentiment, and I think it is perfectly appropriate for the Professor to take the night off. I had a conversation with my wife last night, and she was perusing the news and said "I didn't know Kent State happened on May 4." We took a moment to discuss and honor that day.

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Wasn't judging about Heather taking the day off. I just pounced on the May 4 date with expectations that it would be something she would write about on that date.

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You’re giving us a beautiful image and time to reflect. (I mean it sincerely but will admit I live in a third grade bubble.) This is lovely. Take your time.

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Nice photo!

Another sign that Spring is in full swing here in Western Maine is a lone hummingbird has found our feeder. I wonder if D. Trump appreciates the changing of the seasons. Probably not. Just one of the signs of a hell residency.

For the rest of us - Here's to Spring!

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