Spring, where are you?

Well, I guess some parts of the country would consider our 40-50 degree highs spring like, but I DON'T!  I'm done with it!  I want some real Spring!

I went out searching in the yard.  Harvested a big bunch of lettuce that had been covered against lows as low as 22 degrees the other night.  So far I haven't had to buy any lettuce this winter.

Anyhoo -- I found these harkenings of springtide:

The hellebores (lenten roses) are blooming.  Of course, no surprise that -- they're supposed to bloom in January!

But this . . . the first daffodil of the season!  Used to, I could count on the first daffodil to bloom about the second week of February.  But this year, and last year also -- blooming on January 30.  If we have several sunny days (we've had over 9 inches of rain in January!), then I'll be bringing bunches into the house by the middle of this coming week.

I have not been successful in taking good pictures of the birds at my feeders outside the kitchen window -- but every day we are seeing flocks of goldfinches, purple finches, some red-breasted nuthatches, tufted titmice, chickadees, downy woodpeckers, cardinals, and two bluebird pairs!  And the little Carolina wrens are flitting around beginning to build nests in whatever little corners they can find.