Larch needles

It's strange, but the pandemic, which, in theory anyway, should provide me with an abundance of time, has actually taken an inordinate amount of time away from me. It's also wreaked havoc on my natural history schedule—OK, continuing cardiac troubles, an overabundance of writing work, and exceedingly lousy weather haven't helped—so the places I usually monitor for touchstone species have remained unvisited. However, the gods of Creation seem to be watching out for me, so on today's walk, I noticed something I hadn't been looking for in this particular place: the grand opening of a conifer known as a Larch. Larix laricina is a native of northern North America that behaves uncharacteristically for an "evergreen": it sheds its needles every autumn and regrows a new crop in May. I like to keep tabs on the re-needling, and I was overjoyed to find one doing just that in a place I didn't know had larches. It was a blessing unbidden. I'll take it.