We're getting some much needed rain today, but it's cold and raw, not the nice warm spring rain we expect in May.  My thermometer is reading 46 degrees, and it seems to be stuck there.  We also have a brisk southeast wind driving the rain against the windows and rocking the big spruces out in the back of our house.  Most of our hardwood trees don't have much for leaves, so they are just kind of going with the flow of the wind, but my little wild cherry is tossing about and the poplars are rippling. 

When we were living at camp I mentioned to my father that I would like to dig up a small poplar to transplant near camp because I loved hearing their leaves in the wind.  He had some strong words to say about that, and I never did transplant one.  On the farm they were considered a trash tree because they would spring up in the least desirable places and would quickly overtake an area.  They grew fast and very tall, and then they'd topple over.  Perhaps it was because they favored wet soil and had a shallow root system, so when the wind blew hard enough, over they'd go tipping up a huge layer of earth.  

We have really big poplars in the woods in back of this house, and Fred has taken some of them down.  We have used the wood, but it doesn't burn very hot - not like maple or birch, but it's fine for gentle fires in the fall and early spring. 

Above is the wild cherry in the back yard.  Next is the lower lawn, and a serviceberry in full bloom behind the young maple.  The crab apple on the far left, has buds.  We cropped off the top early this spring.  It sits on a side hill and I was afraid if we let it get too tall it would tip over.

Everything is lush and green in the rain.  Fred mowed parts of the lawn yesterday - the lower lawn in the picture below gets well watered from the springs that dot the hillside above and seriously needed to be cut.  
 
When I was working outside on Sunday, I saw the first bumblebee of the season.  At first I thought the humming birds were back, but then I realized I was hearing a big fat bee.  The blue myrtle seemed to be of interest, and a few purple violets under the lilac bush got his attention. 

I'll have lillies of the valley very soon.  They are popping up between the stones I laid last fall.  There are plenty in the flower beds - and hard to keep under control once they are established.   They make a nice ground cover, though, so I don't really mind them.  All the mulch in the world won't keep them from spreading, but they smell so nice, I'll put up with them wherever they are.  I remember sending away for a small sample of lillies-of-the-valley perfume when I was a kid.  That was when lots of magazines had ads where you could send away for samples of products, mostly cosmetics, for usually 10 cents.  I remember getting a tiny tube of tangerine colored lipstick once.  I was thrilled when these small treasures arrived in the mail.  I was probably six or seven years old, and loved to dress up in my mother's clothes. 
This is a picture taken one summer with my best friends in Maine, Beverly Brady on the left and Shirley Booth (or was it Boothby?) on the right. 

I have no idea where we got those dresses, but I remember on days when it wasn't beach weather, we always found interesting stuff to do - like dressing up and pretending to be our favorite actresses.  The three of us in this picture don't look like any movie stars I remember, but I'm sure we imagined we were stunningly beautiful.

My uncle had a huge storage barn where he stored furniture for wealthy summer folks, and we used to spend lots of time there, setting up lavish "rooms" as settings for our dramas.  We were allowed to play there, but under strict orders not to damage anything.  I once got into deep trouble because we moved some things around, mixing up some of the items and  I had to put everything back exactly the way it had been, without help from my friends - I should have known better, so fixing the problem was my responsibility.  I think we found other rainy day entertainment after that.

My rainy day entertainment today is indexing the bits and pieces of paper in a collection I finished scanning a few weeks ago so it will be ready to be returned to the historical society.