The day was slightly overcast with a promise of rain, a condition that I am told is very common in these parts. We immediately grabbed our umbrellas only to be reminded that this act would clearly mark us as outsiders. Prepared for a wet if not soaking experience without our tell-tale umbrellas, we were quite surprised to see the clouds part and the sun bursting through the barely leafed out branches of the hardwoods. Astonished by our excellent sense of timing, I caught the garden at that moment when it was still dripping with beads of water and scintillating with color. The lower bursts of colorful blossoms were juxtaposed against the stark-black and craggy upper branches of a forest that had not admitted it was well into Spring.