Early Spring: Gameland Pond with Reflections

April can throw some really crazy weather. All you needed to do on this day was take a peek at the online radar, and you could see that winter and spring had not made their peace yet. A war was taking place along the line where the seasons met: warm on one side, cold on the other, chaos in the middle. And such weather did that conflict make on this day!

But before it all began, with just an hour and a half to go before the rain started, my husband and I took our bikes up the hill and parked them in the woods, then walked to one or two of the bigger ponds in gameland 176, the Scotia Barrens. There are eggs and peepers in the little vernal pools; in the bigger beaver ponds like this one, not so much amphibian life, at least, not yet.

A single mallard emitted a solitary quack and then sailed out of my shot; it was later joined by a second bird, to my relief. (Hey, I don't like to see ANYone lonely.) The water on the pond is higher than usual, quite fine for reflections. And the pathways between the ponds are soggy and muddy, so don't forget your boots. (A warning: The ticks are out in full force, too, so take precautions.)

Later in the day, heavy thunderstorms and lightning would roll in; there were threats of hail, but we did not see any. And just after my bedtime, a terrible line of storms moved through the eastern seaboard, with tornado watches in nearly every state from Pennsylvania to the Carolinas. 

We sometimes have a little visitor at our house: a gray kitty who belongs to neighbors just a few houses down. The little fella had been visiting in the afternoon; he went home for supper and we thought he was gone for the day.

But my husband looked out just as the very bad storms were beginning, in the dark of night, and there was the gray kitty on the porch, shaking with fright. He's not even a year old, and we don't know if he'd ever seen such a storm before. He was very afraid.

My husband went out and stood with the kitty, and petted him, and finally made him a little nest on one of the chairs, using blankets and jackets, and pulled the chair up to a protected spot by the door where he wouldn't get rained on. And the little kitty settled in, with a sigh, and relaxed into sleep; no longer afraid, he safely weathered the storm.

The picture above shows calm waters, but the terrible storms that hit later were really the amazing story of this day. And to think, they rode it out together, quietly: one man, one cat, against the gathering darkness and the lightning flashes and the booming thunder. Here is a song for them, those brave two: The Pretenders, with I'll Stand By You.