Friday Five: April Showers Bring May Flowers

Jan posted this wonderful Friday Five:

Recently having driven from Corpus Christi to Houston to Austin and back to Corpus Christi, Texas, we saw the effects of rain and drought on the byways. South Texas is in a severe drought situation, but the route between Houston and Austin was graced with some recent rainfalls so that wildflowers were abundant. Otherwise, there were few to be seen.

With the old adage "April showers bring May flowers," let's look at the weather and vegetation in our home areas to see if any May Flowers will be blooming.

1. What spring flowers and plants do you see? Or will see sometime in the future?

Jan is only about 6 hrs. south of me but the climate is quite different in Corpus and Ft. Worth.  We have already seen our Texas blue bonnets and I have geraniums blooming on the patio.  I planted some marigolds in my herb garden hoping to keep the bugs out but it seems that either the cats or the birds have taken their blooms off already.  The bushes in the front of the house have been abloom for the past 2 weeks.  I don't know what kind they are but they have tiny little pink flowers.  I will have to take a leaf to the local nursery to find out.  This is our first spring in this house so we are finding out what we can do here.

2. What kinds of weather are you experiencing in April?

We are having a good bit of rain.  (Sorry, Jan)  We don't get much with each rainfall but I haven't had to water the garden much.  It can vary almost 40 degrees in a day here.  Yesterday I needed to be in shorts to work in the yard and by nightfall I was huddled in my fleece.
3. What are the stereotypical harbingers of spring in your area? How about where you grew up?

Spring came as early as Easter here.  We had a wonderful egg hunt at church and the little girls could wear their summer dresses.  Rain is one harbinger.  We don't get much otherwise.  The dove begin to coo and the birds begin to sing

early in the morning.  We see more kinds of birds as they begin their migrations to the North.  And my nose starts to run.
4. What season do you like best in your home area?

Spring is really the nicest here in FTW.  I goes on for a long time usually.  Much longer than Spring did in the North.  It flits back and forth between warm, shorts kind of weather and cool rainy days. 
5. What is sprouting or blooming in your life? What do you wish for?

The diocese here has been split for the past 4 years by a schism that has had to go to the Texas Supreme Court to be decided.  It has been a bloody battle waged between the extreme conservatives who abhor women clergy and those who want to get on with life.  The schismatics still have much of the property and all the endowment.  Those of us who are still Episcopalians struggle along with just 8 church buildings and 14 parishes that are meeting in jury-rigged locations.  It has made for a rather energetic and wonderfully elastic environment in which people have been willing to try new stuff.  I have been hearing people really share their faith and talk about how to live Christian lives in the face of it.  We are growing like crazy (a new family nearly every week) and I am going to present at least 10 adults for confirmation next month (and Amy is going to present a goodly number of teens) next month.  It is probably the most spiritually exciting work I have done during my priesthood.

We should hear from the courts by the end of the month I am told.  I have been holding my breath for 3 years though and so I will believe it when I see it.  Both J and I will be back in harness if we get all the property back.  I am certainly glad I took all that interim training. 
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