Spring!

This may be out of whack for these parts, but winter seemed fairly long and cold this year (which was a delight, believe me); 3 weeks ago our yard looked this this:

Then the ice and snow slipped away, the sun began to make an appearance, and last week our yard looked like this:

(There is no escaping yard work, no matter where we go. This has been a difficult lesson to digest.) 

And then yesterday we spent some of the morning at the arboretum, where spring has exploded magnificently. I loved it, I loved it; it was like being given an early, perfect birthday present.  

I am now officially in training for summer, which means I'm systematically building my tolerance to the sun, in the hopes that I will spend more time outside between the months of May and mid-October than just sprinting between the air-conditioned car and the air-conditioned house. I've sat in the backyard two days in a row now for about half an hour without succumbing to heat stroke, so things are looking promising :)