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Spring has arrived, along with phenomenal weather, rising waters back in Riverside, and yes the frogs are announcing it all to the world:

This picture for whatever reason reminded me of Annie Dillard's description of a frog she discovered that didn't jump. A giant water bug was sucking out the dissolved contents of its victim from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek:

He was a very small frog with wide, dull eyes. And just as I looked at him,he slowly crumpled and began to sag. The spirit vanished from his eyes as if snuffed. His skin emptied and drooped; his very skull seemed to collapse and settle like a kicked tent. He was shrinking before my eyes like a deflating football. I watched the taut, glistening skin on his shoulders ruck, and rumple, and fall. Soon, part of his skin, formless as a pricked balloon, lay in floating folds like bright scum on top of the water: it was a monstrous and terrifying thing. I gaped bewildered, appalled. An oval shadow hung in the water behind the drained frog; then the shadow glided away. The frog skin bag started to sink...

This past weekend we spent some time at Star Lake with Wen's side of the family. It was an amazing weekend complete with 20 degree weather and bright sunny weather. I got a great 30 km ride in at Ingolf on Saturday despite the horror of witnessing the after effects some of the clear cutting of the forest that decimated the first few kms of the trail. I didn't take any pics of myself riding but I managed to get a few shots in capturing the aura of a sunset at Star Lake...

I have no idea what these lakeside blossomed shrubs are but they were absolutely scarlet in the dying sun's rays at dusk...enjoy! Check out more pics from the past few weeks at musings.