Surely Spring Is Coming

Hello, Robin Redbreast! As I sat sewing this morning I became aware of a couple of birds hopping about on the brown grass and lo! First one robin and then another, and they seemed to be finding some tiny morsel beneath the matted old brown grass and the few springs of new green grass pushing up. The sun was bright and beautiful but the temperatures are in the mid-30s. The tree tops across the street are dancing in the blustery wind that keeps me indoors and not out having a walk which I very much want to take.

Besides the robins there were some glossy black birds -- no, not the crows that appear early in the morning, maybe these were grackles although I thought they were a little small for grackles. Does insect life begin to stir with the warm sun on the old grass? Oh, my, there is so much I don't know about the natural world.

I have a bunch of quilt projects in process but nothing worthy of a photo yet. But soon I think.

They're Back, Harbingers of Spring

This week the Canadian geese returned. I think they probably winter in the Chesapeake Bay area. First there were six and then eleven and then thirteen. First the grass was not covered in snow. Then for three days rain and snow alternated, with a thin white cover each morning. They were undaunted, they searched for green shoots under the dry brown top layer and under the snow. They are not fat but they are not thin either; they have taken good care o themselves and had enough to eat, even if they did have to flap their wings for three or four hundred miles. Today the snow is gone again, the sun is brilliant. I saw a robin scurrying on the lawn. If it stays nice the forsythia will begin to open. Spring is always a time of rejoicing. Yes I know it will come and in a sense I take that assurance for granted but the beauty today after the gray, wet, chill of most of the week is glorious.