A Brief Sense Of Spring.

Today is bitterly cold.
I woke up to the first morning with subzero temperatures since mid January. Lady Winter is back from her intermission, which came across almost as an early departure.

Still, as we wait for February snow to cover our landscape white once more, the mild, albeit foggy and humid air which has been dominating our forecast for the last twenty days brought about a brief sense of spring. The stalks of the early flowers were seen relentlessly pushing upwards and at times the early bird song resonated a joy, the one that made me feel nature was a month ahead.

My front patio displayed only a few days back the first beauty of the resilient and yet so tender yellow crown of the Eranthis flower, just about to burst into bloom. I am sure this progress has now been abruptly interrupted and hate to contemplate what the plummeting temperatures will do to this lovely plant.

Last weekend however still truly felt like spring and thus I did the first gardening of the year, cutting back the dried up clematis, its climbing vines rigid and brown, seemingly so very lifeless. Upon closer look though, a multitude of buds were already in full sight, usually a sign prompting the annual early trimming of this late summer blooming beauty.

Winter is not over yet and Spring - although not that distant - is still far removed from our perception. However, the first season is slowly running out of time and we all know that good things comes to those who wait.
Thus lets wait just a little bit longer.