Spring sprung yet in your neck of the woods??

 HALLIE EPHRON: Here in New England we have “sprung ahead” so daylight is breaking at around the time I am waking and signs of spring abound!

A pair of downy woodpeckers are doing their darndest to make a dent in my brick chimney. Cardinals are back and proclaiming wallah-ballou from the rooftops. A flicker is drilling for worms between the stones in my patio. A house finch (with a bright red head) is singing from the top of a maple tree in front of my house. And I’m bidding a fond farewell to the darling little juncoes (snow birds) that have literally flocked to my garden all winter.

My yard is shaking off winter doldrums. Carpets of blue scilla are popping up everywhere, and some have hopped the fence and are colonizing in my neighbor’s garden. The little clump I planted at Jerry’s grave is blooming.

Sedum, which will bloom in October, are starting to poke their tidy succulent heads heads out of the soil.

What’s happening in your neck of the woods that says: Spring has sprung! Or maybe not so much...

JENN McKINLAY: Spring came and went and we’re back to summer here in AZ! It was 99 degrees the other day. Hoo boy! I’m hoping the heat slows its roll. Summer is long enough out here. But my vegetable garden is busting out, so I am very happy!

RHYS BOWEN: I’m with Jenn! Just when I was loving spring it was suddenly summer and 99 degrees. I had to switch from heating to air conditioning. I think it’s back to more normal temps next week but if it stays like this it’s back to California for me.

Lucy Burdette: Spring in Key West is not subtle! We have the bright red royal Poinciana trees, yellow, or pink plumeria (which also smell lovely), and what my sister calls yellow rain. This tree has delicate bright, yellow flowers that rain down onto the sidewalk. Also, the orchids that have been tied to various palm trees seem to burst into blossom this time of year. Here’s one from my neighbor.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: In one word: ducks! They are back, and Flo and Eddy are as adorable as ever. 

Also, spring brings the opening salvos in the humans vs. squirrels/rabbits skirmish over the tulips–who will prevail? We are spreading Rabbit Scram like mad. Sorry bunnies, you are so cute, but our hosta and tulips are not bunny salad. Grrr.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: The squirrels are very helpfully turning our flowerbeds for us, Hank. But I can't say a bad word about them since Rick has tamed one of them. He's named her Tikka and she eats peanuts out of his hand. As annoying as the digging up of things is, I have to admit she's pretty cute.

Spring is springing in full force here in north Texas, although it seems a couple of weeks later than is normal for us. Last night we moved the big plants back outside, and today I'm off to hit the stores for Boston ferns.

I bought tomatoes last weekend so hopefully we will get those in this next week, as well as getting new plants in the deck and patio pots.

The roses are all thick with buds and the Climbing Old Blush (always the earliest) has a bloom or two. The bridal wreath is blooming, the Japanese maples have leafed out in brilliant scarlet.

There will be something new every day now–and so many chores and projects! The gorgeous pots and hanging baskets I brought back from Round Top will need to be repotted into bigger containers. Here's one of the pots with the Japanese fishing float that was my fun find at the show.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I’m experiencing just the opposite of Rhys and Jenn here in Maine - just as I was enjoying the first signs of spring, The Old Crone of Winter came back for another go-round! We have four inches on the ground and more sleet and freezing rain in the forecast.

The few song birds that already arrived are very quiet today - probably wondering why they weren’t still in the Carolinas!

I did get out yesterday afternoon while it was nice and warm and started my annual spring task of picking up all the branches that fell over the winter. I have two enormous trees in the front of the house, and it amazes me how many deadfalls they have over the course of a year and still keep right on leafing out.

As for other signs of spring… sigh. I’m visiting friends in the Hamptons in a week and a half; I’m hoping the landscape is more hopeful there.

HALLIE: It should be super-springy week after next in the  Hamptons!

Now over to you! Is spring bursting out, limping along, or in hiding in your neck of the woods?

Signs of Spring

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I know that those of you in northern climes have probably forgotten what spring looks--and sounds--like. Even though we haven't been covered in snow (at least not yet...) our garden has been so brown and sere that the other day I was tempted to look at photos from last summer, just to remind myself that in a few months it would be beautiful again.

But the first hints of spring come early here in North Texas (I always add "north" because we are only about seventy miles from Oklahoma, and Texas is a VERY big state) and with always surprising suddenness. Although we've been hearing a little morning birdsong since early January, yesterday morning a male cardinal was singing in full mating glory for the first time this year. (When I lived in Scotland and England, I missed the cardinals, and the mockingbirds, terribly. Yes, I know they have nightingales, but nothing sounds as beautiful to me as a cardinal. They are our valentines!) Here's the song. (And a little birder's side note--there is a lot of regional variation in cardinal song, and ours sound very different!)

Then, walking around the back garden, I saw the first shoots of the fire tulips peeking through a layer of dead leaves. This is the only tulip that naturalizes here, and they are apparently quite rare. Our little patch came with the house, so we have no idea who planted them, or when. But they are gorgeous. You can see why they're called "fire tulips." I've tried to find more but without success, so I always look forward to our few hardy bulbs.

And then yesterday at dusk I was out back with the dogs, looked up, and saw that our huge elm tree had begun to bud, just since the morning! The leaves looked like a canopy of tiny brown feathers but in a day or two they will be the palest green.

We have a few warms days in the forecast, but even though the cold is coming back for at least another month, it is really SPRING.

So, REDS, what are the first things that tell you the season has turned?


HALLIE EPHRON: So jealous. And that's all I have to say on the topic. We're getting more than another foot of snow.

I'll know the season has turned when I can see my bird bath. Right now it looks like a snow mound.

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: So jealous here, too. We still have snow on the ground here in NYC and another winter storm forecast for Tuesday.

First signs of spring here? Snowdrops and crocuses in the gardens of brownstones — sometimes as early as March, definitely by April.

RHYS BOWEN: I hardly like to add to this because I'm in Arizona where winter consists of a temperature drop at night and about four days of rain. But the birds are singing like crazy in the trees around our condo and the tree outside my window (not sure what it is) has definite green buds. The first desert wildflowers usually show up in March and then it's a carpet of yellow and orange if there has been enough rain.

One thing I miss spending the winter here are the fantastic wildflowers in California. When I went out to Point Reyes in spring it was a multicolor carpet of poppies, lupins, Douglas iris and more. One friend described it as walking through God's garden.

LUCY BURDETTE: That sounds lovely Rhys! I'm with you--don't want to say too much for fear the New Englanders will throw unripe, rotten tomatoes...But the truth is, our blood has gotten thin in Key West and we don't want more winter experiences. The worst is having to go somewhere on icy, snowy roads! I will look forward to crocuses, and daffodils, and lilacs, and iris--and especially our vegetable garden. Asparagus, chives, peas are some of the first spring crops. And John threatens to try potatoes this year too...

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  BWA HA HA. Spring.  Yeah, you saw my bird bath photo last week right here--the topiary, remember? Let me put it this way: the cab that brought me home from the airport today could not get up our driveway, and had to leave me and my suitcase in the slush bog at the bottom. Then I could NOT roll my suitcase up the driveway, because the snow was too high.  My first signs of spring, of course, are the DUCKS! Right now, however, they would be baffled--you cannot even see the outline of the pool in our back yard, the snow is so high.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: It wouldn't be unripe, rotten tomatoes, Lucy - just canned ones that have frozen solid in the pantry. (Not exaggeration - our walk-in pantry, once the Salmon Falls Post Office in the 19th century, is poorly insulated, and things will freeze in there during a harsh winter.) Our first signs of spring will be crocuses in the back yard and the forsythia - which you all may remember I spent most of last summer hacking back - blooming. In warmer climates, their delicate pale yellow flowers would be overlooked, but in New England, they are the oh-so-welcome evidence that winter is really over. They've been rather scraggly the past several years as they became overgrown; I'm hoping my vigorous pruning will pay off with some nice full sprays this spring. Which, judging by the current Maine weather, will arrive sometime in late June.

DEBS: Oh, Hallie, Susan, Hank, Julia! I don't even want to tell you that it was warm enough today that we gave our dogs baths on the deck. (We have hot water plumbed outside--the water would have been freezing otherwise.) But don't be too jealous, because it won't last. And we have had snow in mid-March here.

Susan, I love crocuses, too. They remind me of Cambridge. And guess what I saw as I walked round the back garden this morning? The very first one! Proof that spring will come!

READERS, what's your first sign of SPRING?

Winter...going, going...

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Okay - it's not gone just yet. And my husband keeps reminding me that it once snowed on Easter Sunday (dang, let's hope that doesn't happen, it would ruin my new patent leather Mary Janes!)

As much as I love spring - and I will be yakking about garden ideas on Wednesday - I will miss winter. (Although I won't miss even the little bit of shoveling that I do myself. That's my house below and it has far too many paths the snowplow guys can't reach!)

I can't imagine living any place that didn't have four distinct seasons and apart from hosting my birthday, my husband's, Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, New Year's, the Oscars, the Philly Flower Show and Mardi Gras, winter's the time we get to wear great big sweaters and tall boots. Scarves. We can generally eat and drink with reckless abandon since who's going to see it under all those layers?? Thick soups, hot chocolate - go for it! Roberta's cassoulet, Jan's toffee candies - count me in.
But it isn't just the food.

So here they are, The Top Five Things I Will Miss When Winter Finally Ends5 - Wearing my black Uggs around the house. They've been the unofficial signal that I'm home and I aint goin' nowhere.
4 -  Collecting kindling and bringing in firewood. I always feel like Olivia Walton when I do this and - go figure - I love it.
3 - Irish Coffee. Where has this drink been all my life? It's probably fattening, right?
2 - Snowshoeing. My new fave activity (to counteract the Irish Coffee.)
..and the top thing I'll miss when winter ends
1 - Sitting by the fire with Max the dog and a good book.

What about you gals?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: What I'll miss about winter? Ah, sweaters. Big mufflery scarves. I love my plaid flannel "lounge pants."  I love sitting in the big chair with a book and a big fluffy blanket. And yes, indeedy, my black uggs. And no, Irish Coffee can't be fattening. Can it? I mean--it's hot. So any calories would, like, automatically burn off.
Sigh. It is going by awfully quickly, though...

HALLIE EPHRON: I confess, there's not a lot that I will miss about winter.
I'll miss a little:
Homemade soups -- split pea, minestrone, white bean and tomato, black bean and cilantro, whatever's in the refrigerator...
Roast chicken with roasted veggies.
Medium-dry sherry before dinner.
My wonderful warm quilt.
Yes, my Uggs -- like having permission to wear my bedroom slippers in public.
Not having to shave my underarms? I know, TMI.

ROSEMARY: Sherry before dinner...that's so civilized. I saw that in a movie once...;-)

RHYS BOWEN: Winter, what's that? Oh, you mean snow and stuff. I may well experience a tiny bite of it next week when I'm in Colorado Springs. But being a total wimp, we escape to Arizona for the winter where we enjoy blue skies, the pool, desert sunsets, eating outside. Having grown up in England in a huge house with no central heating I could not wait to escape from winter. Even California is too dreary and wet. I don't mind crisp mountain snow and hot chocolate and big roaring fires, but when we were home in December it seemed that every time I wanted a big roaring fire it was a spare the air day.
But we do make soups in the winter months, and I have oatmeal for breakfast. And Irish coffee is good any time!

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm with Hallie and Rhys, there isn't enough appealing about winter to make me want to endure the pain. Yes, the snowstorms that hit New England looked spectacular in photos. And I wished I could be there--for about a day. Otherwise, it's a Key West winter all the way for me--where we whine a little if it drops below 60...I'll stop yakking for fear I'll get stoned:).

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I've got a pair of snowballs with your names on them, Rhys and Lucy.
I'm laughing at all the Uggs - my pair is tan. We New Englanders know Uggs are for wearing inside, not outside! What do I miss about winter? Definitely the stews and soups. I love winter root vegetables in almost every form. I'll miss what I think of as December snow; when it falls in fat flakes and everything looks so beautiful covered in white. Of course, by mid-March it's all gritty and lumpy, and I can't wait for it to finish melting.
I miss our woodstove fires, even though keeping them stocked is a P.I.T.A. Ro, maybe I'll try to think of myself as Ma Walton next time I'm hauling boxes of wood upstairs. And I'll miss my cold bedroom, which necessitates sleeping tucked in close to Ross. You know which state has the lowest divorce rate, right? Massachusetts. I'm convinced it's because New England spouses have to stick together for body heat.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We had our little Texas experience with real snow over Christmas--it lasted almost a WEEK! And boy, was I tired it... But I do love our fires, and playing outside with the dogs on a crisp day. And I adore soups. The first nip of autumn in the air and I'm making some kind of hearty soup. Wait, I take that back. The first thing I do is get out the fluffy down comforter.
One more thing--bare trees against the backdrop of winter sunsets.

ROSEMARY: I was about to add that like Ross apparently, my hubby also generates a fair amount of heat but Hallie would say TMI!
Besides, body heat seems to be a distant second to - UGGS! What about the rest of you..what will you miss?

She claims not to be adventurous - but we don't believe her for a minute. Make sure to stop by tomorrow when the adventurous Dana Cameron visits. She'll be giving one lucky commenter a signed copy of her lastest, Seven Kinds of Hell.

The More Things Change

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Happy Spring!  Happy Passover! Happy Easter!   All the first white tulips are out in our garden--and for maybe the tenth year in a row, the ducks have returned to visit our back yard pool. It's always so reassuring to see them. And all of it is such a nice reminder that some things stay the same as other things change.

So, things that are the same this spring: It's time for my winter coat to go to the dry cleaners. I can open the windows--and see they need to be washed. I think--is it time for bare legs? And I've already had my first iced latte!

Things that are different: My new book comes out in September..it's the lead title in the publishers fall catalog!. (Last spring at this time? I had NO idea any of this would happen. Hmm.)  I'm wondering if there's something I should be doing.  I'm 64,311 words into the new book. And I'm hoping I'm on track. (That's not different, I guess. That's a constant.)

What's the same with you this spring? What's different?

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: One of the sweetest things about spring is how, even if everything in my life is the same as it was last year, it all feels fresh and new. Hanging the wash outside, listening to the songbirds in the morning, enjoying the daffodils and forsythia. What's different this year? Well, I have a junior in high school, so this spring means college trips, SAT prep, and the Prom! Will I post pictures? You bet.

HALLIE EPHRON: So I want to see the prom picture... and hear whether you go shopping with her for the dress. That was always my favorite thing about proms - finding The Dress.

Same here: Tulips in the dining room. Forsythia in the yard. Trying to figure out how to discourage a family of sparrows from nesting in the gutter over my back door. Considering changing my stance on gun control. Also already the grass already needs to be mowed. In my family that's "men's work" which all I can do is nag unless I want to do it myself. Which I do not.

What's new: Just turned in my book and I got a thumbs-up from my editor within a day; now I'm waiting for comments so I can start on the revision. I love revision but already the spectre of what to write about next is haunting me.

(HANK: And can you believe you're even THINKING about it?)

RHYS BOWEN: Of course I cheat a little with the spring thing. I've just come  back from Arizona where it has been spring for a while. But my California garden is in full flower (only what the deer won't eat) and the Pride of Madeira candles are just about to come into bloom But my son Dominic is growing veggies in big plastic tubs this year and it's fun to open the lids every morning and see how much they have grown during the night.

What's new for me? I am only a few pages from the end of my next Molly book. I have to finish it before I go to Malice at the end of the month where I will be interviewing Lee Goldberg (a truly brave undertaking!)

JAN BROGAN - My kids are home for Easter, that's what's new and wonderful here. The daffodils bloomed earlier than usual and my house is insanely clean, even my desktop and bulletin boards. I am working a lot in journalism, with a regular gig at the The Boston Globe, and am fifty pages into my historical. Just late last week - with the help of my writing buddy Barbara - figured out how and where all three stories within the story will mesh and mirror.  What a relief!

LUCY BURDETTE: We've been in Key West as spring sprung, where I think the changes in season are much more subtle than up north. They do have the most amazing flowers--one we marvel at is bright pink and looks like an azalea blossom on steroids or a miniature pom-pom. On the down side, they endure the spring break crowd for the middle two weeks of March, when Duval Street and the beaches fill up with sun-deprived, beer-drinking kids. Not necessarily something to look forward to, though happily, the city made it through this year without any major calamities...

Hank, can't tell you excited I am to read THE OTHER WOMAN!!

HANK: Awww. Thank you. It’s a nerve-wracking time. But it shouldn’t be, I know. Very exciting! And oh, the winner of the ARC of THE OTHER WOMAN from Thursday (chosen at random by Jonathan) is: Storyteller Mary! (Mary, contact me, okay? And I’ll send it when I’m allowed to!)

DEBORAH CROMBIE: This time last year I wished I was in England, as I do this year.  But on the upside, I'm enjoying spring at home in Texas.  We've had lots of much-needed rain (although we could have done without the tornadoes), the garden is lush and emerald green and the roses are blooming like crazy.  Looking forward to friends and family coming over for Easter brunch tomorrow, although I wish I could say my house was as clean as Jan's!

I wish I could say I'd finished my book, but I've made great progress the last few weeks, so here's crossing fingers.

HANK: So how about you. dear Reds readers? What's the same--and what's different this spring?