First daff

First and perfect, this lovely King Alfred daffodil, blooming along the edge of the woodlot. There'll be lots of daffs this year, courtesy of last summer's rains. The tiny, wild blue-eyed grass is coming up, too, not a grass but a member of the Iris family. No blooms yet, but soon. Look around, there's a blue-eyed grass near you. But you'll have to look closely, because it's only a few inches tall--and despite the name, it may be white, pink, purple, even yellow. Also showing green this morning: the few rosettes of bluebonnets and the salvias, which I pruned back last fall and are now getting an early start on spring.

Bill has gone to Houston to see his mother and meet his niece's fiance, so I've had yesterday and today alone. With the dogs, of course. Zach's medication (for Cushings) hasn't had an effect yet, so I was up at 12, 2, and 4 to take him out (a chore usually shared with Bill). But we're hoping things will get better in a couple of weeks. My office is clean (glory!) and I spent yesterday afternoon sorting my yarn stash (halleluja!)--an enforced absence from the computer, because my email server was down. I'm getting email this morning but (annoyingly) can't send it. I've had to move all the outgoing into the "draft" file to keep it from clogging the incoming. (Good grief, what language. Where did we learn this vocabulary?) Frequent problems these days, it seems. I've learned to live with slow service, but not yet with no (or half) service. One of the disadvantages of living at the end of a road in rural Texas, where we don't even get mail delivery. But the advantages? So many I can't count, like the daffodils that will be along in the next few weeks of spring.

Reading note. People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth.--Thich Nhat Hanh

Comments

[andylynne]

Oh there is hope for spring! Every year about this time I suspect it will never come. Or should I say I am impatient for it's arrival and start tapping my foot some ware around the end of January. Thank you for the beautiful photo.

[Beverly]

Greeings from Puyallup, WA, home of the Daffodil Festival. I'm glad to learn that at least one daff bud has shown somewhere. It's been a long cold winter and our fields of daffodils have yet to show a tiny glimmer of gold, it's time, it's time.

[Dorothy]

I love daffodils and jonquils and I wonder what is the difference between them. But, narcissus is my favorite. They have such a good smell.

[Betty]

The daffodil picture brings me such hope this morning...it is beyond cold and windy here in Ma. with wind chills way below zero...

[theresa]

-7 below today, without the wind chill of course- that was close to -35 most of the weekend. Love the daff. Seeing it makes this BRISK weather a bit more bearable. Actually would not live anywhere else, I love the joys of Minnesota! Thanks for sharing your bit of spring!

[Adele]

Picture perfect. On this below 0 degree day, with wind chill at -20 to -50, I thank you for a glimpse of spring. I was searching for a poem called "Snowbound"? and found this quote from Shakespeare. "...daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty."

Obviously, England is somewhere between Texas and Minnesota in climate.

[Dani]

Internet language is so amusing. I found out today that I am a "sneezer" and it has nothing to do with my nose. And one of my chores this week is to populate a module at Squidoo because I just learned I'm one of their top ten lensmasters of 2007. Who knew? I'm not sure I really know now. Har!