Connected...

....and not always in a good way in one case

Almost everything is still very brown....so these sweet little irises were such a treat and made me stop in my tracks this morning. Paul walks in circles while I take my photos.

It will never cease to amaze me when these delicate little shoots just push through the ground in the spring. Mother Nature at her best!

This small tree caught my eye.  I'm always looking for interesting things...and spirals most certainly catch my attention.  At first I thought the vine was just circling the tree.....

....but as I looked closer I saw that the tree had actually absorbed the vine and was growing around it.  The tree and the vine were connected....making something quite beautiful.  But I also wondered if the vine was actually harming the tree...and after doing a little research I realized that it probably was.  Some vines and trees can connect in a good way....but this one was clearly choking this little tree.

I'm going clip out the new vines to try and give this little tree a fighting chance. I'll keep an eye on it over the years.

And....I was pretty excited today when I connected the top to the bottom of my puzzle in two places.....and this is connected in a good way. This puzzle is harder than it looks...but I'm enjoying the challenge and it will take as long as it takes.