Our most common toad, the American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus), sitting on a rock ledge in Frick Park.

So the astrologers and newspapers call it: a full moon at perigee, so that it looks especially large and bright. These images were taken with a pocket digital camera, which is incapable of dealing with unusual light conditions. But it was what old Pa Pitt had to work with.

Acres and acres of Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) carpet the forest floor near the Squaw Run in Fox Chapel. These and many other local flowers may be found at our sister site Flora Pittsburghensis.

This waterfall is usually a gentle and friendly thing, as we see it here, but it can be a roaring cascade after a bad storm. There used to be two footbridges over the stream below, but both are mangled wrecks since a storm a few years back.

A Great White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) blooming along the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel.

As nature awakens from her winter slumber, the ferns uncurl their elegant fiddleheads in Schenley Park.

Father Pitt admits to being a sucker for waterfalls, big or small. These are small, but very relaxing to look at and listen to. They’re part of a stream along the Tom the Tinker Trail in the Kane Nature Reserve. You can hear the spring chorus of birds in the background.

The name of the trail, incidentally, is an allusion to the Whiskey Rebellion. Notes signed “Tom the Tinker” appeared everywhere threatening anyone who complied with the whiskey tax.

A little waterfall on the Squaw Run in Fox Chapel.

The calendar says a week and a half of winter yet, but the crocuses say spring is here.