Buds and Birds ...

I swear that if you look carefully you can see spring in this photo! The buds need to swell more, but there is definitely some promise there. It won't happen tomorrow for sure, but sometime in the next month or two, the signs will begin to be more obvious. Yesterday I saw the first robin of the year and today I noticed blue birds perched here and there, then swooping down into the freshly mowed meadow finding a juicy seed or two ... or was that an earthworm come to the surface to check on the progress of winter?

Of course I do live in one of those areas of the country that is quite blessed with its weather. There is a down side though ... we'll be in serious drought again this summer as there has been little rain in the past months. Our ground water is very low and needs to be replenished so that our gardens will grow. Each winter brings fewer and fewer snow flakes as the climate warms. We can occasionally be hit in late summer with the remains of a tropical storm or hurricane. These actually are always considered a blessing by almost everyone because it can save crops at the very last minute.

While the rest of the country reels from constant blows from snow, rain and freezing rain, we patiently wait for some of it to head this way. By the end of next week it's supposed to get bitterly cold here and if any clouds roll through just maybe we'll see a few flakes reminding us that it is still winter after all!