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Spring has Sprung on the Banks of the French Broad River



I went to Hooper Lane this morning and really enjoyed the warm
temperatures.  Off toward the west from Hooper Lane (Mills River,
NC--Henderson County--20 miles S of Asheville) The flooded fields
glistened in the morning sunshine.  Then I saw what I thought was a
bunch of dandelion seeds floating around over the distant water.  It was
a large flock of gulls.

I walked along the north irrigation ditch of Super Sod farm past the
willows in pussy willow stage heartening me that winter and ice storms
would soon be history.  (OK OK my mother in law remembers a snow storm
in early April once!)  The "dandelion seeds" floated down to the edge of
the flooded field.  A quick count revealed 181 Ring-billed Gulls.

I called Wayne Forsythe to tell him of my "discovery."  As usual, he had
seen them yesterday when the flooded fields were even more extensive and
the weather was blowing and cold.  He counted about 200 Ring-billed
Gulls.

When you are in the Sahara Desert a dream of an ice cube diverts the
mind.  When you are in Hendersonville, 181 gulls does the same thing.

John Lindfors
Hendersonville, NC
Henderson County (inWNC)