The unseasonably warm weather we are now having has fed my impatience to move the calendar along to spring. I have gardens to dig, plants to order, trees to identify and trim! Every day now, unless it is raining, I don my jacket and boots, and make a circle around the periphery of our yard, then tiptoe through last year’s beds closer to the house, measuring small changes and checking for signs of life beyond the weeds that appear to need neither encouragement nor warmth to grow.
Few here can remember a winter with no snow accumulation, but here we are in mid-February, and many now conclude that this is the year that cold and snow are never going to come.
Today, as I took advantage of the sunshine to map out a new bed for prairie flowers, I spied in the grass a small patch of crocuses reaching for the sun. Aha! These cheerful little volunteers are optimists like me, I thought, ready to declare this winter prematurely done. And yes, they may be right. But I am also reminded that these crocus early birds know how to close back up and disappear if snow or cold return. Point taken. I will enjoy the warm weather while it’s here but hold my breath and patience for surer signs of spring.