Snowy Mount Shasta, a full lake and green vale mark spring in the Shasta Valley.
I just wanted to note the passing of April and the deepening of the spring season. The grass is green, the air warm and the snow melting. The Long Winter is finally past and the present has been beautiful. The creeks and rivers are swollen with snowmelt but the high country is still buried deep in snow. It will be a while yet before the higher elevations have cleared enough to get out there and hike the trails and explore. Nonetheless, down in the valleys looking up, it is a grand scene and one long anticipated through the epic winter.
Green is the dominant color now. Even places normally dry like the Shasta Valley are lush and filled with wildflowers. Considering the copious moisture that fell this winter, I reckon the valley will sustain the green landscape for a lot longer than normal. There will certainly be no complaints from me!
It is hard to believe the difference made by three weeks. On Eastern Sunday, I still had a few feet of snow in my backyard. In much of the yard, it was piled nearly 3 feet. Not so now. All but the smallest patches of snow are gone, the leaves racked up (since they never got cleared in the fall due to the snow falling while the leaves were still on the trees!), the immense number of broken branches cleaned up and green finally returning to the yard, it finally feels like spring has really arrived. Thank you Lord!