Creeping in . . .

It's happening slowly. Tiny green tips are beginning to push their way out of the soil. We've had a mild winter, although not warm enough to be a problem --these end-of-February tips are right on time. It's still winter, and our forecast calls for a winter storm with 3-5" tonight and tomorrow, but the ground is warm, so some of that will melt off. The green tips will slow down, as they should.

The snowdrops, though --these are tough little plants. They're happy to bloom right through the ice. They're just coming up, and it'll probably take them most of March to really emerge and bloom. These few will turn into larger clumps, and at some point they'll be waving in a warm breeze. Thank goodness spring returns each year.

Photo courtesy of my husband (Rob), who is much better at getting close to the ground with a camera.

February

Well, it's been a tumultuous February.

My mom, who turned 87 earlier this month, has been showing signs of mild dementia for a year or so. They suddenly got much worse, and she also had several mild strokes. All of this required an extended stay at a hospital in order to try to bring her behavior back to some sort of equilibrium. With various medications, my brother was able to bring her back home (he's lives with my mom and dad and takes care of them). He'll need to hire help to stay overnight, to make sure she doesn't wander at night, but we're all hoping this will work, at least for a while. My brother is a wonderful caretaker, and I'm so grateful that he's with them, when I'm so far away.

At the same time, Emma is going through her first break-up. We had a weekend of alternating crying fits and a Friends marathon.  She had been with this guy for a year and a half, which is a long time for 15 year olds, so it has been kind of gut-wrenching for her. However, being only 15, I'm sure she'll recover fairly quickly :-)

My mom and Emma, 14 years ago.