Roadside Redbud

Driving across the state of North Carolina--length-wise--the interstate was lined with redbud trees for a hundred miles, until the highway gained elevation and entered a different climate zone.

Oh, what a breath of spring! I love redbud trees, which are native ornamental trees that grow wild, usually on the edge of the woods.

I was on my way to Southern Dharma Retreat Center, high up (2700') in the Great Smoky Mountains, where it snowed both Friday and Saturday nights.

Although we long for certainty, conditions are variable, changeable--sometimes wildly so. From spring to winter in just a few hours, a few miles, a few hundred feet of altitude. Conditions constantly change. It's never the same, even if it sort of looks/feels the same.

Redbuds bloom. Snow falls.