Wanted: Spring

This morning at 7:30 a light snow fell while robins sang and swallows dipped and rose around the still-naked trees. I'm not the only one ready for spring.

My cats have been restless and spending a lot of time on the porch, staring at the snow that's still a foot deep on our buried lawn. And I can't make it through the snow to dump the compost, so there's a bucket under the eaves of the garage by the barbeque which I've been filling for about a month now since the heavy snows fell.

I am so ready for spring. As a westside girl, I'm used to the crocuses being done, the daffodils and tulips coming up already, blooming by March.

The Manito Park conservatory helps--there, in a climate-controlled bubble, a few kinds of crocuses and narcissus and cactus and philodendron and lily and bird of paradise are blooming and growing and climbing all over each other. If you live in Spokane, and haven't been there, you should go. It's lovely.

snowshoeing

Went snowshoeing today at Painted Rocks trail, along the Little Spokane River. The sky was that kind of blue you only get in the winter when the temperature drops below 35 degrees and snow covers the land. We started out going across the field--the snow had a top crust which was crunchy and kept us from sinking. We headed toward the river, and when we got closer (inside the trees), there were deer tracks all over, some bird tracks, and finally, when we doubled back away from the river toward the trail in the ponderosas, we saw what we're sure were cougar tracks. Above us the basalt outcrops were a shimmery gray and dotted with snow overhangs, and the pines looked positively orange against that. Later we saw ducks, Canada geese, a hawk, chickadees or something that looked just like them, and a woodpecker. Definitely worth the short drive to do it, and the fields covered in snow were absolutely blissful with their dents and shadows where snow was blown into a pattern of bumpy drifts.