Kay Wade
Big Fat Buds
The Jocassee Gorges inhale winter and exhale spring, and whispers of greenery push out from the dry ground through leaves dampened by a recent trace of rain. It’s March. Wind rolling off the mountains is cold one day and warm the next, and cool again the day after that. Oconee Bells are opening just a few shimmering white flowers, testing the air, but the big bloom is still days away. Likewise, slender cylinders of trillium buds are peeking from within tiny wreaths of mottled leaves, not quite ready to open, allowing the sharp-lobed hepatica and halberd-shield violets a few more days to bask in the spotlight of first blooms. Over Lake Jocassee the copper-colored spears of beech leaves, still in bud, shine against bright blue sky while maples begin the show of soft spring color across undulating hills. The past few months have been cold, sometimes bitter. Change is imminent. We are ready. ~K