The redbuds blush in the back yard, and the western tree line is golden with box elder flowers. Japanese knotweed is about a foot high. Grackles, cardinals, doves, robins, starlings, song sparrows singing, a background like the sky. In Madison, Wisconsin, my sister Tat says that she has a couple of daffodils, one tulip blooming and that her peonies are about three inches, day lilies almost six. Hail fell this afternoon about 3:00 o’clock. The ginkgo at the corner of Limestone has finally started to leaf out. Red quince flowers at both ends of the block. Sweet gum buds are huge, straining to unfold. Crab apple trees have all their buds. Redbuds are fully budded now. Squills and grape hyacinths are fading in the yard.