Where is Spring?

Spring officially began last Thursday. I look out my window and see .... snow. Snow and Spring do not go together! The winter seems to be endless this year. I don't know if it has really been a long, hard winter or if my advancing age just makes it seem more drawn out than usual. Spring has always been my favorite seasons so it is only natural that I would be looking forward to the end of winter. I love to see the budding of the trees, the greening of the grass and the sprouting of daffodils and tulips. Even the smell of Spring is glorious and fresh. Though I never have much luck, I look forward to foraging in the ditches for that first sign of asparagus. I never used to like asparagus ... or thought I didn't anyway .... until I tasted the ditch variety. The garden is a jumbled and tangled mess of tomato plants that I never got the chance to pull before the snow came last fall. I am eager to put on my gardening gloves and dig into the browned and rotting vines. Putting seeds into the ground and then waiting for that first appearance of a little shoot pushing through the ground is another of my favorite spring pastimes. I am even getting impatient to get on the lawn mower and excited to pick up the sticks and garbage the winter has left all over the yard. The ice and snow have been so prevalent that our outdoor Christmas decorations still have not been taken down! You may be a red-neck if you have your Christmas wreath and your Easter flag on the front of the house at the same time .... and we did! Though we did get more snow this week after the majority of it had melted, we can be assured that it won't last long now. Even if March goes out like a lion, April is just around the corner and those showers will wash the winter down the drain. It can't be long now. I think I'll go dig out my shorts!