Pink Fairys

It seemed like it would never happen, but it did.  Finally.  I'm talking about Spring!  Spring has finally gotten here!  It's such a relief to have longer days and warmer weather.  And the flowers have started!  But what I really love about Spring are the trees.  There is that day every year when you finally can see a faint green haze all along the branches (or red haze for some trees).  Where there are a lot of trees together it looks almost like a green mist or smoke. That Spring Green color is the most beautiful green of all, because it lets you know that Yes! the trees are still alive and Spring is finally here.  However, here in the Piedmont of North Carolina, there is something else that happens before the trees start wearing their green.  Have you seen it?  If you haven't, you really, really should.  It's the Redbuds.  Before moving here I had only seen a couple Redbud trees.  They are not really plentiful up North.  My grandma had one in her yard and she loved looking out at it every year.  But really, they are few and far between in the colder climes.  But here......Here in Central NC they are everywhere.  They grow wild all through the woods and along the roads, not just as cultivated trees in peoples' yards like the apple and cherry.  So at this moment in Spring when the woods are still pretty bare of green leaves, the wild redbud trees put on their show.  And is it ever a beauty.  Those poignant pink buds on their petite trees all through the bare gray woods---rather like fairy sprites all dressed in their best pink dresses dancing through the forest.  So lovely.  Everywhere you go, there they are, in the most unexpected and unlike places, flitting in and out.  At this time of year I don't mind the long drive to and from church because I get to see the fairys dancing.  =)  Their beauty doesn't last nearly long enough, but I suppose that is what makes it so special every year.  So Spring has sprung.  The pear trees are nearly finished blooming, and very soon there will be the Spring Green haze on the trees---as well as azaleas everywhere (another fine treat to see).  But in the meantime, I love those pink fairy dresses.