Where Was I?

Oh gosh, where was I, last time I posted here?  I think I was celebrating that flower buds were opening  and feeling happy that Spring was truly arriving. And then, the snow we missed out on all winter came down all at once on March 23:  about 18 inches of it.

Discouragement and an eye-pain problem dissuaded me from any nature adventures since then, but I am happy to report that the snow is mostly gone by now, and that the budding flowers took it all in stride. By yesterday, the Hepaticas and Snow Trilliums had opened their beautiful blooms.

Snow Trillium (Trillium nivale) always lives up to its name and opens its miniature flowers even as snow remains in shadier parts of the wood.  You can note how truly tiny this flower is, by comparing it with the acorn cap lying beside it on the pine needles.

I also returned to the Skidmore woods to see how the furry just-peeking-open Round-lobed Hepatica buds had fared beneath the snow.  And there they were, buds unfurled, flowers wide open, turning their lovely faces to the sun, as if no snow had deeply buried them for over a week:

I am so glad I did get to see these pretty blooms now, because I don't know when I'll be able to see them very well again for a while.  The eye pain I mentioned above has been caused by an injury to my right-eye cornea that originally happened over a year ago, but which has failed to heal completely.  The cornea's surface healed over promptly, but the underlying layers have never adhered properly, so that even minor irritations -- like over-dry eyes that make the eyelid feel scratchy, or the pressure test my ophthalmologist uses to test for glaucoma -- re-injure the cornea, causing both temporarily blurred vision and severe pain. So my doctor has proposed a treatment that should help the cornea fully heal: a stem-cell-infused contact lens that should both protect the cornea from further abrasion while it stimulates deep healing of all layers.  And to support this healing process, my eye will be covered with an opaque patch for several days.  Further complicating my life, my vision through the opposite eye is already impaired by wrinkled scar tissue on the retina, so I cannot really read with that eye, since the print is blurred and wobbles up and down.  Neither can I comfortably write on my computer using just that eye, nor focus my camera to take new photos.  So once again, I have to take a break from nature adventures, photography, writing, and posting new entries on this blog.  I promise, though, to return as soon as I can. The floral explosion is fast upon us now. Readers can search 15 years of previous posts to learn what plants should be emerging on similar dates.  I sure hope to be back soon, with vision restored and pain relieved, to report on new adventures.