Signs of Spring

Yes, we had snow over the weekend. Yes, the windchill this morning was in the twenties. Yes, the boots, hats, and mittens are still clogging the mud room. I don’t know about you, but I need some signs of hope that spring will arrive. Here are a few that I mustered up today:

--Easter is this Sunday. Do you have your Easter “grass”, marshmallow chicks and Easter egg dye? (Thank you in advance for not reminding me of the Easters when we have had snow; that would only discourage me further).

--The water here in South-of-the-River is beginning to taste just the tiniest bit swampy. It happens every year as the weather warms. In fact, I hate to even drink it in August.

--For those readers joining us from the Great Lakes State, ice-out on Torch Lake occurred yesterday. According to the locals, it happened quietly and almost imperceptibly - perhaps in keeping with the almost imperceptible coming of spring this year.

--A few days ago, I did, - I swear! - after close observation and earnest rooting around, find the very beginnings of a tulip in my friend, A’s, garden.

--Rumor has it my dad took the extra weight out of the back end of his pick-up truck, and Mom is “spring” cleaning.

--And, the most reliable evidence yet: I present to you the fact that the butter, when left at room temperature, is spreadable, rather than being rock-hard. I have never understood this phenomenon. All winter we keep our furnace set at sixty-six degrees (at least until Husband leaves for work and I turn it up a degree or two); yet, in the dead of winter, the butter is rock-hard, and as spring approaches, it becomes spreadable.

I know not how, but the butter knows. When the butter is spreadable, I take it on faith that spring will come. Take heart, fair readers, winter’s end is just around the corner! What signs of spring are you seeing at your house?

(Photo credit goes to my dad today - thanks, Dad).