Sunny Day

Sun. Warmth. Magnolia buds, ready to burst open.



Oh, happy, happy day.

Early Spring

Spring in Wisconsin is sunshine and playing outside without coats.



It means rakes and yard waste bags and preparation for the new growth that's down beneath the soil, waiting for summer to entice it to grow.





It means fresh, new buds, peeking up seeing if maybe-- just maybe-- spring is near.



Today it meant a whimsically tossing two bunches of daffodil buds (Two for $4!, the placard screamed) in my cart while in the check-out line at the grocery store with the hope that maybe, they too, would feel spring in the air and treat us to some of their cheerful warmth in days to come or, as it was to be, later the same afternoon.



Early spring in Wisconsin is a fickle beast. Today it means this.



And this weekend, just like that, spring changes its mind and predicts this.



Temporary warmth. A reprieve from winter, that is what early spring offers us. On a day like today, who can complain?

Deep Thoughts

What are you thinking about, sweet little Elisabeth? Do you wish it were spring again? Do you miss hearing the birds chirping and the soft, warm breezes wafting in through open windows? Oh, and you're sick of your winter coat and boots? I agree, it should not have snowed again on Saturday. Having to shovel again after days of coat-free, outside playtime seemed almost cruel.

What? Am I putting words in your mouth, Elisabeth? Were you really just thinking how abominable it was to have Mommy take yet another picture of you?

Or were you thinking about how to best sneak some candy out of the kitchen? What could you do to divert me so that you could push the stool over to the counter and search through the cookie jars and find some treats stored within.

Whatever the thoughts, you sure are cute, little girl.

Good-bye, Warm Sun

Spring in Wisconsin is a fickle beast. One day it can be in the seventies and lend itself to wearing flip-flops and leaving light fleeces in the closet, the next you can be outside in heavy coats with light gloves and hats.

Our warm, seventies-ish air is traveling east now. Perhaps at this moment a family in Ohio is excitedly preparing to sip their morning cup of coffee outside while the kids play with neighbor friends and bask in the sunlight and warmth while forever remarking how warm it is for March and how a single second of it must not be wasted.

I don't begrudge anyone else the warm weather. I miss it, but I accept that this is, and always will be, spring in Wisconsin. Warm one day, cold the next. It is what it is. And, in some ways, those glimpses of summer-- those quick flashes-- maybe help us appreciate the gift of them even more than those who live in the sameness of gorgeous weather day after day after day. Perhaps those warm weather residents think to themselves that the sun is too bright one day or the breeze too strong the next; something--anything-- to break up the sameness of sunny, seventy degree days. But not Wisconsinites. A a seventy-degree day (heck, sixty-degree!) in March in Wisconsin is something to behold.

But I hope that hypothetical family in Ohio (or wherever our warm weather has settled) does what we did yesterday: spend every available second breathing in the fresh scent of spring, confident that, even if it's only temporary for now, the weather will return, more permanently, in a short, short time.

Not Spring

I shouldn't have said it felt like spring here. I should not have even thought it.

Yesterday we were treated to another dusting of snow and temperatures in the twenties are predicted this week.

*Sigh* It is March now. Maybe soon...

Spring?

The thermometer is reading just below sixty degrees. I saw tulips (or were they daffodils?) just poking out of the recently snow covered earth just this morning. The sun is shining.

Dare I even say it? Has spring arrived?

Second Day of Spring

I know Easter is the earliest it can possibly be this year. I get that. But still today, on Good Friday, the following picture of my backyard seems absurd, no?


Consider this. Just yesterday it was warm enough that Elisabeth fell asleep in her stroller during a leisurely stroll under the bright sun. Dad set up the lawn chair in the picture below next to her and, quite comfortably, sat next to her and read. Anyone want to take a book break there now?

Sixty-five, in one of my comments you asked where all the snow was. Well, miserably enough on this, the second day of spring, here it is!

UPDATE: Woo-hoo, this is fun! There are at least six inches on the ground now (probably more), the bottom inch, inch and a half is solid ice, and the weather service is predicting it won't stop for awhile yet. Possible accumulations of ten to fifteen inches!?

A Winter/Spring Day

There is something wrong. Last night we were graced with another three to four inches of snow. Yes, again. Today, while out shoveling, yet again, I noticed something odd. There were birds chirping and singing. Spring like chirping and singing, yet here I was shoveling. I have to hope it was a sign of things to come. You know, like sweet chirping and singing without the shoveling.

Spring Break

Vacation this week; Madeleine has the week off of school. So, we head south, to a sunnier, warmer climate. No. South yes, sunnier and warmer, no. We're in Silver Lake, Wisconsin, about an hour south of us, and to greet our arrival it snowed.

Instead of enjoying warm spring weather we headed south again-- to Chicago-- and spent a day poking around Shedd Aquarium.

Both kids enjoyed it; the highlight being the dolphin show. While walking to the car I asked the kids if they enjoyed all the Pacific White-sided dolphins, Beluga whales and Anaconda snakes and Hank said, "It was so boring, right Madeleine?"

"Boring Hank? No, it was faaaaaaaan-tastic!" Madeleine exuberantly responded.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," gushed Hank. "It was faaaaaaaan-tastic!"

So there you have it. The Shedd Aquarium is faaaaaaaan-tastic.

Flashback: Spring/Summer 2006

It's almost spring; the snow is melting, the mercury is rising and the forecast looks good.

No, still far too soon to contemplate getting out in the the gardens, but it doesn't hurt to dream of what's just beyond the bend.

My backyard.


The back end of my backyard. This is my favorite tree.

Madeleine standing by my rose tree that I bought last year. Unlike my mom, I don't have a propensity for gardening and can never remember what anything is called, but I especially liked this rose tree because it was wonderfully fragrant. I have it wintering on the side of my garage now, protected from the wind. Hopefully there will be more pictures like this in a few months.


And, finally, my prize rose collection. I rescued these from my mom's rose garden before the Japanese Beetles could move in and destroy them. All five managed to survive the transplant and thrive in their new home, along my driveway, last summer. I'm anxious to see if they wintered over for me as well as they seemed to for my mom.

Ah, warm weather, you may not be here quite yet, but you're close, and I'm carefully watching for you. Come quickly!