Starting around the beginning of May, I've been watching the flower buds of the local Mountain Laurel shrubs begin to take shape and swell, and as they steadily increase in size—well, as they hopefully increase in size—I start speculating on what kind of a Laurel bloom show we'll have in early- to mid-June. Sadly, the show on the ridge will be much diminished, but not because of the weather or the arrival of any unnatural flower predator. A couple of years ago, when the gorgeous Laurel thicket on the ridge across the street was reduced to wood chips by developers-sans-environmental-consciousness, a much anticipated hiking rite-of-late-spring disappeared. Fortunately, we've kept our Laurel thicket intact, so even if our delight doesn't require much of a trek—it's 100 feet northeast of our kitchen door—that short distance doesn't diminish the beauty or the joy we still get to experience... starting right about now in what is shaping up to be a fine, fine Mountain Laurel display.