Almost every spring I try to snap a picture of a bird singing it's heart out .. just because it's spring and the sun is shining and of course you have to establish your territory and impress the females ..
Just for fun I looked through some I made in previous years:

I guess I succeeded more times than I thought!

This time I got the Song Sparrow above.

The Song sparrow is well named as both male and female have a variety of songs that may be heard at any time of year, and juvenile birds begin to sing full songs within two months of hatching.
The exact song varies by region and individual, and individuals will often sing multiple distinct songs, but apparently they always follow a discernible pattern: two to four introductory notes, followed by a trill, and then a jumble of quick notes and/or trills.
This one did exactly that!

The shrub he was sitting in was full of buds which were very visible against that perfectly blue sky:

These little clusters of small, white flowers on long, green vines are showing up everywhere alongside the roads over here:

                                                                   
                                                                   

Which, according to my plant-app, is Oregon Big-root, also known as coast man-root or old-man-in-the-ground, a native perennial found east of the Cascades. 
It is characterized by fast-growing vines, spiky, inedible, cucumber-like fruit, and an enormous, deep-seated, bitter, and fleshy tuber that can weigh over 100 kg! (hence the name).

                      

I also looked for Easter lilies in the oak forest here on the property and lo and behold I found some!
They're a little late for Easter but since that happened very early this year they're probably right on time!

The weather has been quite good all week, mostly sunny, although off and on there have been some occasional rain showers. 

It's typical Spring-weather I guess, notoriously volatile and quick to change, characterized by a constant battle between lingering winter cold and incoming summer warmth.

Since the temperatures are mostly over 55F now, I've re-hung my bee-house (for leaf-cutters and orchard bees) on one of the sunny mornings.

      

When I peeked later that afternoon I saw that they'd already found it and had started laying eggs! So cool!

The warmer weather is bringing them out already and the fruit trees are starting to blossom so they're good for food!

I'm also starting to see some butterflies. This very battered looking California Tortoiseshell landed for a few seconds next to the barn. 
Only just long enough to get a fast shot of it. Butterflies are hard to photograph, they don't sit still very long:

Despite the (almost) summery weather I cooked some dutch 'stampot', a stick to your ribs kinda comfort food mostly eaten in winter with kale or carrots and onions.
This version is made with what the dutch call 'andijvie' which is impossible to find in the US.

                 
 
Escarole or Curly Endive (Frisée) comes the closest but if I ask for it over here I'm met with either a blank stare or they try to correct me by saying 'oh, you mean Belgian 'Endive' ... eh, no, I don't. You're sure? Yes I'm sure ... really .. sigh.
Any-who, I actually used curly lettuce, you put it in raw, which makes for a nice, crunchy, lighter, more spring-like dish.

And that's all for this week I think.
Unfortunately we're in for some cooler, and wetter, weather for the next couple of days.
Oh well .. it's only early days .. it'll get better eventually .. we hope.