Springing into Easter!

Doesn't it seem strange to have Good Friday fall on the day after Spring begins?

Last year the first day of Spring was March 21st, and 16 days later we had Good Friday. Easter is an early bird this year!

These delightful daffodils have now brightened the house for the third week! I put them out on our unheated, covered side porch, where we can see them through the kitchen windows, and at least half of them are still looking good. It's like keeping them in the refrigerator.

We've had wintery weather for most of the week, with a frigid wind blowing snow horizonally across the landscape these past couple of days, and rain on Wednesday. There've been short periods of sunshine, but it's hard to remember them....they seem so few and far between. However, as we hear the news of people drowning in floods, and others suffering damage to their homes in the southern part of the country our hearts go out to these families, and we count our blessings.

On Saint Patrick's Day I found a few more signs of Spring outside. The lilacs are budding in the above photo.....

......and the Maple has pretty red buds too.

This is what the Forsythia looks like. My husband planted 3 of these shrubs about 4 years ago and we've barely seen a bloom yet. We're hoping this will be the year that the bright yellow blooms will announce the arrival of spring. The calendar says it's here, but Mother Nature has other plans apparently, unpredictable prankster that she is.

The red-winged black birds are frequent visitors to the feeders now, and if you enlarge this photo you'll see a female cowbird has joined this group. The males showed up the next day.

I managed to snap a picture just as this male redwing was fluffing his wings, and caught the colors, but unfortunately, not his head.

The grackles arrive shortly after the redwings and want more than their share...or so it seems. They're known as the "bully birds", and are not quite as welcome as the smaller birds. In fact we'd rather they stayed away, but their colors are lovely nonetheless.

Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal come early in the morning for their breakfast. They're always polite, and don't overstay their welcome :)

The spring flowers in the house are fading, and it's high time for those outdoor blooms to receive some warmer temperatures and sunshine. They need the help to stir themselves and spring into action as they try to catch up with their precocious southern and western cousins.

My dear husband noticed a shaft of sunlight falling across the daffodils on St. Patty's Day (yes, we had a bit of sunshine on Monday!) and thought I should take a photo of them. So I did. I'm glad he pointed that out so I didn't miss the moment :)

I hope each and every one of you has a very happy and blessed Easter!