The dogwoods are blooming. Driving to work this morning I saw the drifts of white shining through the rain-soaked woods like lost snow drifts suspended in time and space. The spring flowering trees always look best after a good rain. In case you haven't guessed yet, I live in the woods. Each of the last three years have been devastating to the woods, but still they thrive. In 2007 we had a freak freeze that lasted four days in April, when all the trees had leafed out and it killed all the growth for the year. In 2008 we have an F-4 tornado that swept and crushed growth and animals for over one hundred miles. This year and ice storm in February left us without power for two weeks and shattered what trees the tornado had left standing. Yet the dogwoods are small spreading trees, low in the forest canopy and survived all these disasters. With dead trees and fallen limbs scattered all around them, their characteristic drift-shaped blossoms shine unaffected.