Promise of Coming Spring

The modern world generally thinks of the Spring Equinox as marking the arrival of Spring. Older cultures celebrated Spring earlier by marking the coming of Spring. Imbolc in the Celtic calendar falls on Feb. 1st and ends on the evening of Feb. 2nd. In the U.S. it is Ground Hog day. Today, I learned through one of my favorite blogs, Earthsky.org, that the Pawnee people celebrated Spring Awakening through the position of the stars, Shaula and Lesath. When the stars appeared before dawn in winter they began planting ceremonies. This also occurs in early February.

You may have heard by now that the Ground Hog saw his shadow so it's six more weeks of "winter". In a way I hope that is true. The Royal Star Magnolia which was blooming in Feb. in 2020 doesn't have large buds yet. I'm concerned that these are leaf buds and not future blossoms. Maybe, it will just bloom later this year. Time will tell of course. IMPORTANT UPDATE: Sir Walter Wally (Raleigh) did not see his shadow! There's hope for an early Spring here! :) :)

This year's Snow Moon, Jan. 28th, actually coincided with a dusting of snow here. It's been another mild and wet winter, but we have entered a cold period now. Highs will be in the 40s and some nights temperatures will dip into the 20s. The winds are blowing today like it is March. It's glorious to have the sun back after multiple days of cloud and rain.

That's not a stream. It's a wet area that is bare from Miss Maddie and us walking through to the fern bed area.

The hellebores are starting to bloom, but I"ll wait a couple of weeks before I cut back the old foliage since it will be very cold. Who knows? We might see more snow.

The last couple of weeks the front yards here and next door have been under going a transformation. The concrete front walkways and steps which were installed in the 1940s are no more. We were past due addressing the cracks in ours and next door you couldn't even see the walkway where it met the curb.

Next door (this is to the left of our house)

The Happy Cottage

I am happy to say that next door now has a gorgeous flagstone walkway and steps. Our pathway should be finished today. We chose a simple brick walkway for our front yard. I"ll post photos when the yards are in better shape. The installers are very hard workers. They were working in wet and cold conditions. In fact, they are using a heater to help set the brick right now.

Happy First Stirrings of Spring everyone! Even if you are snowed under, signs of Spring are here.

Here's a coloful photo for you.