@Letty,
I hadda look up this thread because yesterday, in my daily snowshoe trudge, I was walking down by the swamp and saw several hundred folded skunk cabbbages all had melted their way through the melting sno. These guys generate some exothermic reaction to jack up their temperatures and that results in the little black"holes " in the snow.
SO, I began an early spring (LAte winter actually) inventory of whats beginning to show as an indicator of the turning seasons.
1The alder thicket is showing reddish tips on the branches, red is the universl earliest color opf spring. The color red is repeated several times in the art works of Fern Coppedge and Walter Baum and Redfield as they used to paint pleinaire in the woods during late winter.
2The waxwings and bluebirds are back and in full berry picking mode. The serviceberries and crbapple bushes are being stripped of the fruits that noby'd touch in the start of winter. The crabapples dont really taste bad this late. They still have an astringency but are sorta sweet. (Like the old "cider varieties " of apples Im used to in the deep woods of MAine. Those apples arent even edible but make great cider.
3A great herd of snow geese have begun wheeling about themany fields. They are a frenetic species, never in one spot too long. They land in a field, 10000 strong and carry on trying to find some sustenance in the snow, then, on somebodies orders and with honking that sounds more like squeaking brake springs the take off and circle several other filds till landing again.
4. A warm wind was conjoured up some where and graced me with about 20 minutes of gentle springlike breezes. It bore a very slight smell of earth that defines the warm sopring winds. Oh well, it was a teaser that Im sure well have to be punsihed for with another blizqard or two.
I really need spring this year, Im going cabin nutz.
