What signs of spring or fall have appeared in your area? Is there still snow on the ground? Have the daffodils sprouted yet? Are the dogs in heat?

Are the penguins fattening up for the winter? Photos, I need photos..

-- Paulineee (paulineee_@hotmail.com), March 21, 2001

Answers

The first real sign of spring for me is the appearance of crocuses, a cropping of which my youngest daughter excitedly pointed out to me a few days ago. I get a special (perverse?) kick out of seeing their petals bend under a layer of unexpected snow. On the other hand, the glorious daffodil, one of my favorite flowers, doesn't deserve that indignity. I must be one of the few people in the world who resists succumbing to spring fever. I see it as an annoyingly short-lived prelude to summer, that most dreaded of all seasons. Still, spring does stir an emotional repsonse in me - disgust. I HATE MUD. Bah, humbug!

-- Stephanie (stevie@idsi.net), March 22, 2001.

I first realized spring was here when the guy next door left his muffler-free car running for about 45 minutes while working on it in his driveway. Ahhhhhhh.

I then spent three straight afternoons pulling out ugly, scrubby shrubs I was too pregnant to do anything about when we moved into this house last August.

Oh yeah, and there are some birds singing. Very nice!

-- Julie Vandenboom (vandenboom@msn.com), March 22, 2001.

I live in Florida. Seasonal shifts are subtle in Florida. Heh. The low last night was 48 deg.F., which I found a relief from the spectre of endless air-conditioning soon to be necessary to life. I have no clue how people survived in this state before A/C. Truly.

-- Catherine (hinesc@mindspring.com), March 22, 2001.

Another thing... warmer weather leads to the shedding of clothing. Skin (loose,in my case) and body flaws are exposed. No more hiding under bulky sweaters and overcoats. Sigh.

-- Stephanie (stevie@idsi.net), March 22, 2001.

Talk about hiding your light under a bushel... (that was one of my mother's favourite things to say).

Stephanie is drop-dead gorgeous, especially for someone of her advancing age! The only real flaw I've found in her is her unexplainable affinity for snow. I dare her to spend a typical winter in Montreal and still feel that way!

(I like Montreal despite the weather, not because of it!)

And the heavy, miserable, chunks of snow have been falling here all day. It's dark and windy and dreary and the roads are a mess. Grr.

-- Pauline (p_brock@hotmail.com), March 22, 2001.

Speaking of "grrrr", I just spent the better part of an hour pawing through boxes of photographs in search of some pictures I took last spring. They feature crocuses bending under the weight of that most glorious form of precipitation - snow. No luck so far. *pout*

Pauline - thanks for the nice words, but I have to wonder when you last had your eyes checked...

-- Stephanie (stevie@idsi.net), March 22, 2001.

Gee you entirely missed the shot about your age, there...

-- Pauline (p_brock@hotmail.com), March 22, 2001.

No, I didn't miss the crack about my "advancing age"; I was graciously ignoring it! However, since you went to the trouble of bringing it up TWICE, let me remind you that I am and always will be younger than you! So there! :Þ

-- Stephanie (stevie@idsi.net), March 23, 2001.

After blathering about signs of spring here in Denver for days on end, I look out tonight and see the snow covering the evergreen shrubbery like a pole of white popsicles, and it is still snowing. Snow here is a sign of spring . . . . I guess

-- Denver doug (ionoi@webtv.net), March 26, 2001.