Mother Nature had fun Photoshopping this morning.

Sometimes I catch Mother Nature in the act … she waves her magic wand and creates beauty from the mundane right before my very eyes.

And, on this humdrum Friday, she was truly an artist extraordinaire.

I peeked out the door and was pleasantly surprised to discover the incessant rain had not lingered into this morning, despite each of the local weather folks predicting a soggy a.m. drive time.

But, alas … it was not a picture-perfect day either and absent were blue skies and fluffy white clouds - the heavens were horribly gray and gloomy looking.

I suited up, still wearing a wool hat and gloves on this next-to-last day of April; in fact, I even glanced at the shovel and boot tray, and wondered if they can be put away yet. There’s no telling what’s up anymore with this crazy Spring weather.

I stepped outside and right away a bright yellow streak crossed my path. What the …?

It took me a moment or two before my eyes were trained on a goldfinch sitting on my neighbor Marge’s magnolia bush. Wow! Maybe even double wow! That bird with its brilliant yellow feathers and black cap and wings was perched on a beautiful magnolia bush which had just erupted into color since I last saw it Wednesday morning. It was quite a sight … dabs of color on a monochromatic morning. It was as if I gazed at a picture with a black and white background and someone Photoshopped the colorful finch and magnificent magnolia bush right into that scene.

Well, that magnolia bush truly transformed the corner of Marge’s backyard with its pastel palette. I waited and watched while that sweet little bird flitted from branch to branch, then finally he made a beeline over to the feeder. Once this golden beauty had eaten its fill of black seeds, it migrated back to the magnolia bush where it posed prettily for me again. Back-and-forth this tiny fellow went, and my eyes followed him the entire time. Soon he tired of that route and he flew up to my gutter, where I guess he had been when I startled him by opening the screen door. He looked like an oversized bee making the rounds looking for flowers’ nectar to sup from. But this little guy never sat still for more than a minute, because next he meandered over to hang from a thick rope attached to a yard decoration that is a smiling resin rabbit that sits on a seat and swings. The bird’s slight weight caused the rope to sway and that sudden movement seemed to frighten him, so he hastily clung onto this moving perch, then made a mad dash back into the magnolia bush again.

So … was his Mama in there, or was he seeking refuge from me, the hulking human, who was so fascinated with his behavior?

Finally, and almost reluctantly, I left to make my own beeline to the tracks and back on a murky morning awash with fifty shades of gray.

[Image by Maggie Rust from 2015 entitled “Goldfinch”]

You can catch up on my blog posts before I started blogging at Patch in August 2013 by going here: http://lindaschaubblog.net/