Monday, 7:30 AM.  43.5 degrees, up ten degrees from earlier.  The sky is cloudless, the day beautiful but the barometer predicts rain.  I need t o mow the lawn and do other chores before the weather changes.
    The sugar maples, Acer saccharum, are in bloom now, and the yellow flowers, emerging before the leaves, are very prominent, some large trees flowering so heavily they appear enveloped in a yellowish haze.  Some trees bear only male flowers, other trees “perfect” flowers, which have both male and female structures (stamens and pistils). 
    Yesterday being Sunday, we did not do much, but did take a nice ride west on Hwy 13  along the lake to Herbster, our destination the Silver Sage Greenhouse.  The day was sunny but chilly, the wind still out of the northeast.  The countryside is coming to life now, poplars and birches leafing out, their  young leaves a merry, misty chartreuse among the still leafless maples and the dark and somber conifers.
    Silver Sage Greenhouse is several miles north and east out of Herbster on back roads, some unpaved, but the trek is well worth the effort and the greenhouses and flower and garden beds are charming in design and satisfyingly diverse.  They sell a wide range of herbs, vegetables and flowers, all grown on the site,;it is a vibrant small country business.