The Color of Springtime

Do you ever think about the assumptions we make about the world around us, and how much of what we think we know is based on our own actual observations? For instance, we all say the sky is blue. Of course, the sky doesn't really have a color, it just looks blue because of the way light is refracted by our atmosphere, but even so, the sky is only "blue" during the daytime when the weather is clear. At night the sky is black, or sometimes it looks like a very dark blue. And sometimes the sky is pink, or yellow, or striped with purple, or gray, or white... Sometimes it's green, but then it's time to run for cover.  But we take it as fact that the sky is blue.

And I think we all tend to think of leaves as green (except in the autumn, when they turn lots of colors). But they change from spring to summer, too, and in the springtime a lot of them are pink. Or purple. But if at any time in my life before the last few years I sat down with a coloring book to color some leaves, I would probably make them green. Now I am not sure, because now I spend a lot of time looking closely at what's going on in my backyard, and I am seeing a lot of pink.

Now for the Backyard Bud of the Day - I have no idea what this tree (shrub?) is, but soon it will have bunches of beautiful flowers on it. For now, though, it has bunches of adorable buds.

Today I could not decide between two bugs, so there will be Backyard Co-Bugs of the Day. Bug #1:

I did a little zoom/crop on this one to show how cool the wings are. I have no idea what kind of bug this is.

Now, Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

Some sort of beetle?

Now here's some flower close ups, just for the heck of it:
There will be spiders afterward. Just warning you.

And now... scroll down for some Arachnid Appreciation!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

 This one has caught something to eat!

The hatchway to our basement is a haven for spiders, but when I opened it today I noticed this one, which I think is a kind I have not seen before. I love finding something new, even if it's in a situation where I am worried about getting spiders in my hair.