THIS MORNING at the Church o’ The Pines, the snowflakes fly and the March winds howl (yeah, I know it’s almost May) and the woodland denizens and congregation must once gain fend for themselves. With help from Caretaker Kathy. I am off to southeast Minnesota—the ‘driftless area’—to guide Road Scholars as we search for spring migrators and ephemeral blossoms. We will be wearing warm clothes.

Meanwhile, in the piney woods this week, we have seen (and fed) scores of yellow-rumped warblers, a welcome if temporary addition to the congregation. They eat like birds—which is to say, they are hungry! We are happy to help. Most of our migrating waterfowl have moved on north, where we hear there is a bit of a traffic jam in some areas due to cold and snow and still-frozen lakes. It has been (and remains) a long, cold winter. But we welcome little bursts of spring and hope to find more in the Banana Belt of southeast Minnesota. And hopefully find receding flood waters. Good Sabbath!