Spring--and a new blog!

It's officially spring today, so what better time to introduce our brand new, improved, expanded, magical, fortified with 10 vitamins and minerals blog!

(Okay, actually, the blog has moved because I'm in the process of sorting out a bunch of conflicting or extraneous or uncooperative online accounts. Kind of a long story...anyhow, be sure to "bookmark" or "favorite" or set a new RSS feed or whatever way you like best for THIS address instead, slightly different from the old one. I enabled email subscription this time, too--check the top of the sidebar for that new option.)

But as I was saying. The calendar now agrees that it's spring, something I've been convinced of since, oh, about  mid-December or so. Not that there was no cool weather--we wore our share of coats and mittens. It just never got to that bone-deep quality of cold this time around. Cold weeks were punctuated by 60-degree fronts. And except for flurries twice, there was no snow.

Here's just how spring-y it's been the past few weeks. Please ignore the profusion of weeds. They NEVER stop, no matter how warm or cold!

Jan. 30: The first couple tulip plants pop up. By a few days later, they're ALL out, and I would begin to suspect that old groundhog missed the mark this year.

Jan. 30: My daphne has almost finished blooming already. (This 4-ft. wide shrub is the plant two friends gave me as a tiny potted thing when Boy 1 was born. Huh...then again, I guess Boy 1 has gotten a whole lot bigger in 5 years, too.)

Daphne again. Bees LOVE this sweet smelling plant!

Feb. 15: Jonquils are already in full bloom.

No complaints. They are awfully pretty.

Mar. 13: First of many red tulips is open!

Mar. 13: And so are the white ones. This is the variety called "ice stick." You can't see it here, but the outsides of the petals are striped pink.

Mar. 20: Pink camellias. This tree is taller than the roof of the garage now.

Close-up of same

Mar. 20: Red camellias are nearly done, as you can see by all the drops.

Close-up. These make me think of my grandma, who mentioned once that camellias were her favorite flower.

The best evidence? The wildlife has begun to emerge from hibernation!

Whee!