The Promise of Spring

Now that the snow is suddenly and almost completely gone, signs of the coming spring are all around us.  I went out to check the garden to see what I could find.

The buds on the Forsythia are looking ready to burst into yellow flower, but I think we need some actual warm weather, not merely above freezing.

All the trees and shrubs also have buds ready to unfold; this is a Blue Ash, with its unique 4-sided stem.

And we do have one tiny patch of 4 little Snowdrops, the first thing in the garden to bloom this year.

But the Dwarf Blue Iris will be close behind, up an inch out of the ground already.

The Day Lilies don't so much emerge from the ground as 'perk up' and look ready to grow again.  I think they're slightly green all winter under the snow.

And in the veggie garden, the Rhubarb is the first thing to show among the leaf mulch.  We have some great Rhubarb plants!

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I've seen European Starlings and several Red-winged Blackbirds, and heard a few American Robins, but the feeders are suddenly abandoned as the birds head out to forage for their natural foods among the trees, bushes and weeds of the meadow.  Not nearly as easy to practice bird photography now.

My walking fell off badly during February and early March, between the warm weather and rain, leading to ice when it froze, and bitter cold, plus then being under the weather for a couple of weeks.  But I'm pleased to say that I'm back to averaging an hour a day this week.  And today for the first time I got my bike out - unheard of in March!  It's a neat bike, so I've included a picture.

When I had some serious illness in 2007, I could no longer ride a bike, at least not uphill.  So I invested in a magic electric bike.  It's a basic mountain bike first, but then it has a magical motor and sensor in the rear wheel, along with a heavy-duty battery.  You can set it to 4 levels of assistance, and there's also a quick boost lever for a short rise in the trail.  Don't get me wrong, it does not take over and run the bike for you; if you stop pedalling it stops.  But it can sense how hard you are pedalling, and maintain the bike on uphill stretches so that it's the equivalent of pedalling on flat ground.  I love it, and it means I can keep biking, so a bike ride is going to be a regular part of my cardio starting now.

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