Cattails and daffodils

We collected a few cattails from the edge of a creek way back in October. They sat in our kitchen for months. Drying, I guess. And looking sort of pretty. Mae decided that taking them apart would be fun. The fluff is amazing. That is fluff floating about in the above photo. I learned that people used to stuff pillows and mattresses with the fluff. Animals use is as a food source, it is a huge mass of seeds after all. It is also good for starting fires......

but if you just let it smolder, it keeps the mosquitos away. At least, thats what I'd always heard growing up at the lake. I'm not sure I ever tried it there. It worked here, but mostly because there aren't any mosquitos.

Spring is here. The fruit trees are starting to bloom, the wisteria is starting to show purple flowers and I've started my tomatoes. Summer is now in my thoughts.