Saturday, March 19, 2022

Spring harbingers

HALLIE EPHRON: Here in New England, we’ve just barely edged into SPRING. The temperature has gone up to 60 (yay!) and daylight savings time kicked in on Sunday (boo!) Today I am trying to pull together my taxes (boo!) and reminding myself that this is very much a first-world problem to have (yay!).

Here’s what’s going on in my garden. *ONE* snowdrop is up.

And a hyacinth trying to sprout has been bitten to the ground by ravenous rabbits who have managed, apparently, to survive the winter and are now nibbling away on just about anything green. All the plants I put in last fall are reputedly rabbit resistant (lavendar, bee balm…) - only time will tell (or “Nous verrons,” as my mother would have said).

The bird bath is still waiting for spring migration and I’m waiting until the mud has hardened on my favorite walking trails.

So what are your ups and downs of the season?


LUCY BURDETTE: Spring in Key West means spring breakers of course! The place is mobbed, and a lot of the visitors are young and here to party.

Aside from that, we are hearing birdsong that’s different from the winter. I’m pretty sure these guys are on their way up to you Hallie (and Hank and Julia!) I do miss spring in New England, however, I can tell from Hallie’s post that it’s too early to head north…

One more special thing we have in Key West–the caterpillars have arrived that will turn into monarch butterflies. The only thing they will eat is the milkweed my neighbor plants. Can’t wait to see them come out!

RHYS BOWEN: I’m in Arizona where spring means a riot of color and blossom. This is truly the best month of the year here with bougainvillea spilling over all the walls, the creosote bushes dotting the mountains with yellow and the palo verde trees about to be covered in yellow blossoms. The weather is perfect–low eighties with cool evenings.

Luckily most restaurants now have patio seating which is a delight. And our daughter’s big back yard, strung with lights and more lights bobbing in the pool, makes a great spot for entertaining. We have the chimenea and heater on when it gets too chilly and stay out until late.

JENN McKINLAY: I’m in AZ like Rhys, and March and April are the last gasp of fabulous weather before the heat starts in May. My front yard is a riot of blooming creosote and cassia bushes and the backyard is bursting with a red blossoms on the trumpet vine along the back wall, drawing in the hummingbirds, and my citrus trees (lemon and lime) are in bloom and the smell is the single greatest scent in the world.

There is nothing like AZ in March. Glorious.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: We are in waiting mode, of course. For the ducks. Flo and Eddy have not made their annual visit yet–this will be maybe their 24th year? This is the week they usually come, so we shall see. (And let’s not talk about ducks’ lifespans. For another time, okay?)

We are seeing only the tiniest tiniest shoots of tulips and crocuses, but not one bit of stem, let alone flower. But we have some adorable snowdrops. And the birds are arriving–juncoes, and cardinals and duets of skittish doves. WAY too soon for the patio lights, and super too soon for the outside grill. We are still in coats.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Spring seems to be running a little late here in north Texas this year. Usually by mid-March our fruit trees and the redbuds are in bloom, and we might be seeing a few early irises. But this year, nada. I'd even begun to worry that my forsythia was dead, but yay, this morning a few yellow flowers are budding. The crocuses have been and gone, the daffodils have been blooming sporadically since January. We had a late, hard freeze last Friday so I'm holding that responsible for the delay.

However, it is absolutely gorgeous here this week and I have a terrible case of spring fever. The Boston ferns are coming into the nurseries–that's the real marker of spring here. And I'm dying to get and fill those barren pots on my porch and patio!


JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING:
As the official Far Northern Red, I’m lagging behind the rest of you. In southern Maine, we’re usually about two weeks behind what Hallie and Hank are experiencing in the Boston area. I just pretend Lucy, Rhys and Jenn are living in a foreign country.

It’s mud season here - no shoots, no grass, and the buds are still tightly furled. My backyard is a bog with patches of ice wherever the shadows linger. My dirt and gravel driveway (it’s very ecologically sound!) looks like those places where Russian military vehicles have gotten hopelessly stuck. Yep, Putin’s not going to make much headway if he decides to invade Buxton, Maine.


What I do have is indoor spring. I lay bright tablecloths on the tables and have some glorious forced forsythia right where I work. My old house was built to run on sunlight, with large windows everywhere, and with the longer days the rooms are filled with light. It’s been a great week, temperature wise - in the upper forties and fifties! - and though I still have to keep a fire in the woodstove, it heats up the room fast. Sometimes I even take my heavy wool cardigan off. Stop me before I become giddy.


HALLIE: So what's going on in your world? Are you still recovering from "springing ahead"? Suffering through tax season? Or picking your head up out of the weeds and inhaling spring?

70 comments:

  1. The arrival of daylight saving time is the only spring harbinger that causes grumbles around here . . . I’m definitely not happy to spring ahead . . . .

    Yesterday the sun shone brightly and the temperature hit 74 . . . ,there’s no snow . . . and, best of all, the daffodils are beginning to pop up . . . .

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    1. I gave up on daffodils early on - my squirrels LOVE them... to death.

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  2. Although we had a few spring-like days this week with abnormally warm temperatures 11-16C (52-60F), Ottawa still has 40 cm (over 3 feet) of snow on the ground and mostly frozen rivers. A few (nasty) Canada Geese have returned to the park this week. Goose poop season will soon commence!

    I did put my cold-hardy perennial herbs on my balcony but will have to bring them back inside when the temperatures are expected to fall below -5C (20F) next week.

    And ugh about the 2022 tax returns. I will have to get my tax return done by a professional (for once) since I got a lump-sum pension payment covering the last 5 tax years + sending in my dad's final tax return.

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    1. I'm hiring a pro to do my taxes for the first time ever, too. Complicated year...

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    2. Grace, medievalists identified a color used for fabrics that was the color of goose poop. Its name is "goosturd", pronounced GOOS'-terd. You can probably visualize that color more easily than most of us.

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    3. KAREN: Ha ha. Their poop id a mixture of green, dark gray and a bit of white. An adult Canada Goose poops 2 pounds/day so you can visualize how our park pathways become covered in poop in the spring!

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    4. Too much fertilizer is never good! And the goose poop contains plenty of pathogens and viruses that can harm children and pets.

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  3. I'm a bit farther north than Hank and Hallie and a bit south from Julia. We have baby daffodils shoots popping up, and sunny southern-facing yards have crocuses in bloom. Julia's picture reminded me to go out and cut some forsythia branches to force inside. Their yellow is so cheery before they bloom outside. Yesterday it was seventy and I put on a t-shirt and moved the deck furniture back into place. Today it's already hit the high of 45 and is going to rain all day. Yep, spring in New England.

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    1. I did that yesterday, too - brought out some yard furniture so I could sit and bask. Now I'm going out to cut some forsythia - thx for the reminder.

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  4. I am back in Connecticut after a week in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Yesterday I put on a sundress and sat outside for an hour. Never did that so early in the year before, it's still winter, everyone! Today it is pouring rain.

    New Hampshire was interesting also. It snowed last Saturday, at the condo, about 15 miles from the ski area and on the mountain. It was really cold on Sunday when we took Benjamin tubing (sledding in tubes). By Wednesday it was real Spring skiing with slushy puddles in the parking lot and near the bottom of ski runs and "corn snow" near the Lodge.

    We hadn't seen them since November. It was sweet to be together.

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    1. Sounds like a lovely time was had by all. In Boston we're back in late winter with a rainy chilly week.

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  5. Spring is making an effort here in western NY. The winter aconite are gorgeous, carpets of yellow blooming always in mid March, along with the snowdrops. I think I got Hallie's share!. A few crocuses are showing their faces, and the hyacinths and tulips are waking up. I see tiny pink tips on the redbuds and the dogwoods and hydrangeas are fat with buds. The forsythia will be next, always blooming just as the aconite is finishing up. It's a blessing to see yellow in the flowers if not in our sky. Our summers are like Julia's, short but gorgeous. And I agree about DST. It's going to be so hard on the children when they start school in the dark.

    Good idea about forcing the forsythia. I haven't done that in a while. Now where are those garden clippers?

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    1. Reminding me of the time not al that long ago when I foraged for my garden clippers, but when I got outside to use them realized I'd grabbed my wine bottle opener.

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    2. Oh Hallie, you just grabbed what was closest at hand, right? That thing you use most?

      Rofl

      Much love

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    3. Pruning with the corkscrew. It’s a thing!

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  6. So much fun to hear about your different spring experiences. Ugh on taxes, Grace! John keeps mentioning them and I put my fingers in my ears and hum...

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    1. ROBERTA: Yes, time is ticking but we have a longer deadline than the US. It's April 30 (actually May 2) this year in Canada.

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    2. I need to gather my stuff this weekend. Don't want to!

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  7. We live in NY near the Canadian border and Lake Champlain. The lake is like a geological bathtub of ice keeping the temperature down and causing Spring plants to come up late. I can't expect any Spring bulbs for weeks. I have tulips in pots in my root cellar and they have poked their heads out.

    I nudge the gardening season along by Seed Starting! My husband built an insulated and lighted chamber with shelves for 16 flats. I have already started sweet peas, Petunias, Coleus, and Impatiens. Faster growing seeds I start later.

    We have an 8 X 10 greenhouse to grow the seedlings on in April. I fill that thing to the gills with 700 - 1000 seedlings - vegetables and flowers.

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    1. WOW, indeed. I also do indoor seed starting but just with two grow lights in the library.
      Although the temperature is falling back to the 30s as highs, I did plant Lincoln pea and French Breakfast radish seeds in grow bags this morning.

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  8. Before anything can poke its green nose up out of the earth, our mounds of snow here in Manitoba have to melt. We are finally having above-zero Celsius temperatures during the day, so the melting is beginning. This means the cat wants to out and in and out and in again several times each hour, and then bring in four wet paws. Oh well, it's just as great for her to finally be able to enjoy going outside as it is for us.

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    1. Yay, melting! The mammoth piles of snow that were recently piled into the corners of parking lots have disappeared here.

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    2. AMANDA: Yay for the start of the snow melt.
      But with an abnormally snowy winter, what is the risk of spring flooding this year in MB?

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    3. GRACE: We are hoping for a slow melt, and so far the temps are complying. Fingers crossed!

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  9. Back to early morning darkness and long evenings in Cincinnati. The daffodils are up, the hawks are circling, and mud season is upon us.

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    1. Nicely put. Mud season is the price we pay for all those days later on when we don't have to water. A fair trade.

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  10. Need my galoshes today, here in the drizzly Northwest, and it's time to visit our local seed exchange. Gardeners share saved seeds at our local library, then later we share starts and bulbs. Rain = lush growth, so we're ok here (although I do miss my flip flops and Key West!)

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    1. Missing the heated swimming pool and walks on the beach and local shrimp ... a seed exchange sounds like an excellent idea.

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  11. Signs of spring for me include the annual tax season (shockingly I didn't owe them money this year, the rat bastards! And I already got one refund back so I'm going to go hog wild with that one and...pay some bills. Adulting sucks sometimes.) and the soon returning boss annoying the crap out of me before he gets back from Florida.

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    1. Adulting - it can indeed be a pain. But a necessary corollary to longevity.

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  12. I have really been enjoying the past few days of bonus spring! I know these temps won't last but now that my sciatica has abated I am able to go out for a few short walks. I can't ask for more than that. Although I really could do without the mud!

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    1. So glad you're feeling better - I had sciatica when I was pregnant and it was not fun.

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  13. Happy spring! Our taxes are done except for a final check on "regulation changes" via TurboTax before I send it on. Why can't Congress keep their mucky hands off the tax regs for a minute? It's my annual gripe, since I don't care one way or the other about DST.

    The garden has been sounding its opening color notes for a couple of weeks now: snowdrops, Lenten Roses, winter aconite, daffodils, crocus, and tulip foliage a foot high. The pussy willow our neighbor gave me has its first catkins. The Bleeding Heart is practically visibly inching up every day, and buds are swelling on all the flowering trees I've planted in the last couple years.

    My husband came out to the garden the other day while I was working and he said, "Now you're in your happy place!" Yep.

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  14. Yesterday was a perfect day here on the Connecticut Shoreline! The temperature got up to 70 and it was sunny. Today is raining and in low 50's, but It's almost ( one more day) until spring. The crocuses are up and in bloom, and the daffodils and tulips are starting to come up. I don't trust March - you know what they say about the weather in New England, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Even more light now that we are in DST.

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    1. I’m a few blocks uphill from Long Island Sound in Connecticut, and it was definitely a gorgeous day yesterday! Because the forecast for today called for rain and fog, I ran a lot of errands yesterday. Today I’ll be indoors working on projects I keep trying to postpone.

      Ever since childhood I have loved Daylight Saving Time. I love to walk, and this is the only time of year I can do it after dinner. I’m not at all a morning person. During DST, I can drive in the evening. I don’t see well after dark, and so I don’t feel comfortable driving after dark during Standard Time.

      My neighbor’s crocuses are up, and they are beautiful. Such cheerful flowers! His daffodils will soon be out!

      DebRo

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  15. The little daffodils I refused to throw away 20+ years ago are peeking up with green shoots, and the irises are poking up green as well, so there may be flowers one day. Most other attempts have turned into food for the rabbits and deer and squirrels . . . ah well, they were here first and they deserve to eat. The wild blackberries and the hickory trees are theirs as well. Frogs, ducks, and turtles are on the pond, with the geese visiting randomly, cardinals, robins . . . no hummers yet. Life reawakening. ;-)

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  16. We've had such a nice spring day or two--and now the tulips are coming up! Still no buds,but Nature seems to be thinking about getting her spring act together! And for the first time ever, I am so ahead on taxes! Because everything is online. And travel expenses are: ZERO.

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    1. HANK: You have to give an update about FLO AND EDDY!

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    2. Your comment about Flo and Eddy reminded me of the end of the song "A bit of earth" from The Secret Garden. They guy is disturbed because the seeds the young girl wants to plant will grow but then die and he doesn't want her hurt. I love the song but want to say to him that it is ok, she gets it. She'll plant more seeds, they will grow, they will die, she'll plant more seeds. Not sure why I was reminded, but I was.

      Taxes done yesterday. Well, Canadian taxes. Still have US ones to do but we get extra time for that.

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  17. Colder, windy, and raining here today, but the sunshine and warmer temps meant a purvey of the yard and flowerbeds--tulips and daffodils should be in bloom by Easter, crocuses have spread and are adding their color to the landscape. A robin sat on my backsteps and sang to me this morning. Irises greening, maple trees budding, love this time of year! Now must go buy galoshes for the 6-year-old (and me) so we can go exploring the metropark and its muddy paths and streams.

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  18. Still recovering from the springing ahead of hours! I just received two separate surveys from two different political candidates asking if we want Daylight Savings Time or Standard Time.

    Although I adore the greenery and flowers with the approaching springtime, I am Not a fan of sneezing because of spring allergies. LOL

    When I lived on the East Coast, I remember the spring meant less snow and for the East Coast, a temperature of 50 degrees was considered warm. In California, it would be considered cooler weather, not warm.

    It is supposed to rain today, which will be welcomed since we need more rain with after these drought years!

    Diana

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    1. I have allergies, too - but fall allergies for me are even worse.

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  19. When I was a kid, I remember Spring meant breaded iris and the flowering quince blooming on the pump house in grandma's yard. During the past couple of weeks, I've noticed the leggy calla lily blooming next to the Sunday school building and the lilac next to my driveway has finally started pushing out it's smelly bundles of color. The stone fruit tree across the street is covered in pink blossoms. It's supposed to rain a little today, which is great, we are lacking water again.

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    1. Love that typo! BREADED Irises... conjures all sorts of images. I do love the smell of lilac, but we've got many weeks before they bloom here.

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  20. The weather was wonderful this week. Upper 70s and even hit 80 yesterday. Now we are back to 60s for the weekend, but it should be nice again this coming week.

    I got my taxes done in February. I'm actually off this week, so I'm going to enjoy a bit for much much needed R&R.

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  21. It’s still WINTER, and we haven’t had enough of it - we need more rain and got very little snow (from which our water comes). We were supposed to get a big storm last week but it went south of us to Northern California.

    In the garden, Crocuses have finished, Daffodils blooming now, as is Forsythia. The Winter Camellias are starting, late, and there are buds on the Japanese Maples. Mostly, we need rain, we’re in year 5 of drought, and no end in sight with a dry Winter and expecting another hot Summer. This isn’t how northern Oregon is supposed to be!

    Daylight “Savings” Time? NO, NO, NO! Hate it!

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    1. Praying for rain for you - looks like half the country is in dire need.

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  22. I do miss the anticipation of spring in New England. And daffodils, I miss daffodils quite a lot.

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  23. I'm off to the big box store this afternoon to scout out those Boston ferns. I see them popping up on my neighbors porches. And I see a faint green mist on our elm trees, so it won't be long before the elm seeds are flying and everything in sight will be coated with green pollen. But I still love spring, even with the hayfever and the upcoming annual battle with the squirrels!

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  24. We keep bouncing between winter and spring here. That's probably why everything growing is confused. I did see the azaleas in front of the library are blooming. The Asian jasmine hasn't started yet. Once it does our whole neighborhood has a glorious scent. Someone posted a picture of a bluebonnet the other day. Once the spring wildflowers start blooming it will be heaven on earth!
    Taxes are done. I did our son's, two trusts, my little brother's, and ours. Next year it will be just us! We are moving to Virginia next month and I am paring down my responsibilities. Anyone have any good tips for packing things? I could really use them!

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    1. Pat, good luck on your move. What part of Virginia?

      I do have one tip. Pack your dishes in dish towels, towels, and napkins, instead of paper or plastic. It saved us so much space.

      And get rid of stuff before you move. It sounds obvious, but I really wish I'd done more paring down than I did. Three years later, there are still unpacked boxes.

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    2. Check with your moving company. One once suggested packing pillows and blankets in the drawers of dressers. Office movers suggested leaving folders in files-- one office mover evet put a kind of plastic balloon in office drawers amd inflated it, and not even a paper clip had moved when the desk arrived. Moving companies-- the really professional ones-- will send out a manager-- the guy who books you-- well in advance, and he/she will make suggestions, give you hints. They pack mirror in custom crates!

      Also, in a cross country move, make sure there is no possibility of a shared truck.

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    3. Packing advice! That's a juicy topic big enough for its own blog. We moved into this house 40-something years ago so packing for me would be like learning a new language.

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    4. Good tips! Keep them coming. Karen, we're moving to Lexington, VA in the Shenandoah Valley. I've been donating stuff left and right. Ellen, we're going to have an Adventure in Moving with U-Haul this go round. The cost of pros is exorbitant and we're paying for this move for the first time in years. We will hire some men to load and unload the truck.

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  25. Spring here is heralded by the Big Dance, otherwise known as the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, which induces March Madness. Alas, our spring was busted with a first round loss. My alma mater is University of Kentucky, and we were predicted by some, including Dick Vitale, to win it all. We fell to St. Peters in the first round game, and to say it was a shock would be Understatement with a capital "U." Alas, I guess I'll be forced to wander outside now and look for signs of spring.

    Tax documents are going to the accountant on Monday, and, yes, it's worth the cost.

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    1. I feel like it's already worth the cost - I slept soundly the night that I met with the CPA.

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    2. It's totally worth the cost, Hallie - but you (and by that I mean, I) still have to pull together all the numbers to hand over. Dragging my feet!

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    3. My nextdoor neighbor CPA does mine, at a "friends and family rate." The day he offered his help I felt a huge weight lifted from me. I used to do them, but e-filing and retirement rules are just too wearisome.

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  26. As an old friend of mine used to say, March in this part of the world was the time of waiting and want. Lucky for us, we don't have to depend on the cold cellar for veggies, as he had in his youth.

    It is full-blown mud season in SW Ontario. The ice lingers in the woods but the snow is gone in town. Our backyard is dappled maple brown because I don't rake leaves. I do shift them in the spring because I share the yard with the dog. We should see snowdrops this week and soon the hellebores will bloom. Then I know that spring is really here. Then it will be time to set seeds under lights in the house for planting in May.

    Saw the first cardinal of the season today!

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    1. Cardinals are here in southern New England all winter... but it's only that they start to sing and proclaim hullabaloo!

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    2. Yes, I remember. They may be here in the winter, but I don't see them. I wonder if they return to the same place to nest.

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  27. I'm in Milwaukee. We never really got winter this year. A cold week here, a cold week there, but virtually no snow at all (we are theoretically in a drought, but with the Big Lake alongside us, it isn't apparent). I don't like cold weather (or ice and snow), but a good stretch of it kills the bad bugs that are working their way north. Being temporarily dogless, and with a pinched nerve in my back, I haven't been walking outside much, and since I'm in an apartment rather than a house, I don't know what's coming up on the lawns and gardens or through the sidewalk cracks. One of my friends, a regency writer, just took the Queen Mary 2 to England. I think it might have been a good year to have done that.

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