early spring

spring.jpg

Weather is on everyone’s mind these days. Not long ago I wrote about the Westcoast’s unusually long spell of snow and cold, followed by extremely heavy rains that caused flooding and mudslides (including a buried house and loss of a life, sadly). The temperatures have climbed, fooling the gardens into thinking it’s spring.

This afternoon, despite my flu/cold, I was tempted outdoors for a little while by our first sunshine in a while and a temperature of 14C (57F). I poked around the garden, noticing many little signs of life. The snowdrops are always the first to come up even through the snow, but I was amazed to already see a few early crocuses and a hellebore in bloom. The magnolia trees have fat flower buds, spring bulbs are sending up leaves and some of the shrubs have green leaf buds – my mother called these in Finnish hiirenkorvat or mouse ears.

January 25, 2005 in Being an Artist, Photography by Marja-Leena