Spring has sprung

The first days of spring have not exactly been nice warm and sunny days. The first day was off and on showers, then whoosh a great big wind blew through, repeat for the rest of the day. The next day was a bit warmer, but still, the temperature in the morning has been -1 C. The best I can offer for flowers right now are these brave little crocuses. Nothing stops them in the quest to be the first blooms each spring. About the same time, the pretty little blooms of the Rosemary bush open up in anticipation of the Orchard Mason Bees. Poor bees, it's still so cold they are hesitating breaking out of their cocoons.

The flowering currant is out in full bloom and the perfume is so sweet. I can't really describe it, a bit like carnations perhaps...but soon there will be non edible berries and leaves to cover the bush and no more sweet fragrance.

Yesterday was our last trip out to Sooke for the season, to get firewood. It was a really long last trip. It was so cold to start off and keeping your feet firmly planted was a chore at best. A heavy frost on the wood does not bode well for getting the load of wood together in any hurry, it's a chore just to keep from falling on your fanny.

During one of the many intermissions (the chain saw was not behaving either), I managed to forage for these pussy willows. There they were just waiting for me to come and snip them off and take them home. I think my wizard is puzzling out what the heck he's supposed to do with these things.

We stopped on the way home for a couple of large coffees from Tim Horton's and I think it was just enough caffeine to get through the rest of the job. Once we were home the wood got unloaded and re stacked, cleaned up the truck and ourselves and collapsed for the rest of the day. One nice little touch that finished off the day, I found this chunk of wood out there and added it to the load. It wasn't until we were unloading that I realized it was the shape of a heart. Other people find heart shaped leaves and rocks, I find heart shaped wood...

My first thought was, "with love from Mother Nature"..... ;o)