3.14

It's "Pi"e day. I forgot all about it until Bill reminded me when he came home from work with a McDonald's Apple Pie and a Shamrock shake!

On top of both of those wonderful treats, it was also a beautiful day. It got to 50 degrees! The snow is finally melting. It was sunny. I didn't even wear a coat when I ran out to the store.

Our fireplace is finally repaired.

Last year, on this day, this photo was taken.

I had no hope of seeing any crocus today, but then given the temperature, when I checked the mail I glanced over at the spot closest to the house where the majority of the croci are planted.

Sure enough! There are green stems coming out of the ground. One little patch even had purple buds just like those above. They aren't as upright, the cold has wilted them. But there is green.

When Bill let Atticus out this morning, he declared that he could smell spring.

I believe him.

Then I passed a dead skunk on the road.

That's another sign of spring.

Whew.

Today I have an abundance of thanks.

For the crocus, for the smell of spring, for apple pies (even if they weren't pie shaped), for repaired fireplaces (yes, we see the irony of the warmer weather), for Shamrock shakes and for Bill because it was an amazing gesture.

The Snowflakes worked too well

For the third year, I asked friends to cut out snowflakes with or without their kids. Check out last year, where we didn't get much snow until January, and the handmade snowflakes filled the kitchen.

This year… is a much different story.

Shannon and Greg have added snowflake making to their Advent socks. I am honored and I love their creativity. Their snowflakes are the the two in the center and the one to the bottom right. The top right snowflake is one of the window clings from my parents. 

The one on the upper left is very special. Chandra is a counselor for adopted kids and youth. She specializes in adoptions from other countries. One of her clients needs to keep their hands busy and during December they were quite busy cutting snowflakes. Chandra told this client about my snowflakes. The next session, this youth brought in a snowflake. They told Chandra that is was especially for me. I teared up when Chandra gave it to me and told me the story.

Isn't that beautiful? Today I want to recognize how thankful I am for that young person and for all of those who have sent me snowflakes this year and in the past. 

We have enough snow though (this is officially the 2nd snowiest season on record, 1951 holds the record with 132" and I hope we don't get that much more snow, we're at 107.8" currently). I typically wait until spring officially starts before I take down my snowflakes, but this year I may not wait until then. They may come down at the beginning of March.

On March 14, 2013 this photo was taken. I don't think we'll see crocus that early this year.

before the snow

I had just noticed that our crocus were not only up, but some were blooming. That was on Thursday. By Friday, we had six inches of snow. It was warm enough that it melted down. But then it snowed again over night.

This picture is actually from last year. March 19th to be exact. But this is what they looked like just the other day. I just wasn't fast enough to get a picture taken.

Spring is coming... I always like this part. Especially when I look back at photos and realize how close we are. Yes, there will likely be more snowfalls. But spring will happen, it's just around the corner.

Spring

Spring was here for a short visit on Friday. It's back to gray and dreary and cold. But for a short afternoon spring was here.