Spring was a long time arriving this year, but once it finally arrived, the season wasted no time. The forest is dense with fully developed leaves, as you can see from this view of Nells Hill, the mountain behind my cabin. The "view" from my cabin is now fully lost, and to my eye I have even less sky this year than before.

From my north window I have one very small open patch of sky visible, a few pinprick sized spots and then a mass of greenery. To the west, I wouldn’t know Nells Hill even existed if I lived here only in the summer. To the south, I never have a view, as Roundtop mountain rises in that direction. Now, I can’t even see the ground through the greenery. To the east is my driveway, a tunnel through the greenery. In years past I had to walk out to the end of my driveway, to where it meets the lane going up the mountain to see any sky. This year even that view seems constricted, and for a real view of open sky I need to walk to the end of the lane to where the forest ends.

Now is the most lush time of the year. As the summer wears on it is likely a small amount of the canopy will open up. Summer thunderstorms bring wind, and most are strong enough to down a few twigs laden with a few leaves. Sometimes a stronger storm will bring down small branches, and once or twice a year a stronger storm will bring down some branches. All of that will eventually help to open up the canopy, long before fall is even a thought on the horizon.

It’s not these normal storms that cause any worry on my part; it’s those every couple of years kind of storms that bring down large branches or even the trees themselves that give me pause. I can do without any of those this year.