Sunshine on Our Shoulders.., for a while.

For about three or four hours today we had SUNSHINE. It was dazzling, intense.., almost eccentric. We woke up to sun reaching through our bedroom window and flooding into the living room. I quickly ate breakfast and then took the camera, and the dogs, outside.
The sky was so blue. Everything stood out against this beautiful color. The rain has darkened all the trees, rocks and plants, saturating them with dampness until they couldn't hold, it would seem, one drop more.
....and then today..., a reprieve, a morning of "brightness blinding sight from seeing"..., a day when I really wished that I could fly up into this beautiful blue firmament above.
The birds crowded the feeders knowing somehow that the Prospector had filled them this morning for the first time in a week. The Finches, Sparrows, Grosbeaks, Bluebirds, Hummers and Doves.., all waiting for something wonderful to happen. All vying for the seed that magically appear in their feeders.
.... the goat boys were crusing the pasture. I think I saw a slight upturn of Brownie's mouth, as he passed me on the way to the front pasture. I couldn't be sure.
.... the chickens were clucking happily.
.... the cat was chasing something across the road. Carl ran around "hurding" the goats and Maggie, sweet old thing, sat down on the porch and absorbed the warmth.

..... the Helleborus, that had turned it's face downward in the wind and rain for weeks started to rise and look toward the sun. As if it now had good reason to make a commitment to the coming of Spring.

And as the day progressed, off in the distance, the clouds slowly moved up the river valley.
Now, as I write this, they have, again, wrapped us in the quiet eclipse of Winter.