As I mentioned yesterday, we had a strange combination of rain, sleet, and snow, but by this morning it was all gone with just sogginess and damp everywhere. And it was warm! Well, for CT in February. So we headed outside to play before our ill-fated trip to the grocery store (see below).
Besides kicking the ball around and playing on the swingset, we examined our garden and found the first snowdrops of the season. For those of you unfamiliar with this plant, it is a tiny green plant with delicate, white, droopy buds. I think it grows from bulbs but, as I didn't plant the ones we have, I am not sure. They always are the first flower to come up in the winter time, often after a break in the cold, and they do resemble falling snow. You will often even see them covered in snow, compounding the meaning of their name.
Sis was fascinated. She carefully cleared leaves off of the shoots pushing up through the ground and had me mark the areas with sticks so we wouldn't inadvertently trod on them. Then she talked excitedly about how she was going to help me in the garden this spring. After looking, finding, and clearing a few more patches of snowdrops (which are in the same places in our rock wall year after years, so I had an idea of where to look), she corralled Bud to go play garden in the front bushes which sprouted apples, oranges, tomatoes, and carrots in their imaginations.
Those same snowdrops received another dusting of snow tonight, when two strong snow squalls passed through our area with blizzard-like conditions. And it's getting cold tonight, in the low 20s. But I know those hearty little flowers will still be there tomorrow and it makes me joyful. For me, they always herald the beginning of the end of winter. Even if there will be be snow on them again.
Besides kicking the ball around and playing on the swingset, we examined our garden and found the first snowdrops of the season. For those of you unfamiliar with this plant, it is a tiny green plant with delicate, white, droopy buds. I think it grows from bulbs but, as I didn't plant the ones we have, I am not sure. They always are the first flower to come up in the winter time, often after a break in the cold, and they do resemble falling snow. You will often even see them covered in snow, compounding the meaning of their name.
Sis was fascinated. She carefully cleared leaves off of the shoots pushing up through the ground and had me mark the areas with sticks so we wouldn't inadvertently trod on them. Then she talked excitedly about how she was going to help me in the garden this spring. After looking, finding, and clearing a few more patches of snowdrops (which are in the same places in our rock wall year after years, so I had an idea of where to look), she corralled Bud to go play garden in the front bushes which sprouted apples, oranges, tomatoes, and carrots in their imaginations.
Those same snowdrops received another dusting of snow tonight, when two strong snow squalls passed through our area with blizzard-like conditions. And it's getting cold tonight, in the low 20s. But I know those hearty little flowers will still be there tomorrow and it makes me joyful. For me, they always herald the beginning of the end of winter. Even if there will be be snow on them again.
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