Little signs...

Oh, it's on it's way.

Spring!

The birds have begun singing in earnest in the mornings which are getting lighter, earlier.
As usual the robin's are the first ones up, bleeping in the day.

The tiny grape hyacinth is coming up...

 I put some in this little, old shoe polish bottle I found on the beach last fall...

 ...it has a bit of a purple tinge from the old glass it's made of which does that as it ages.

My friend Liz who knows antiques told me that you can tell glass is old like this because

of something (I forget now what...mercury maybe?)

 they use to put in glass that they don't anymore, maybe pre -1910.

Yes, that's a bit of sunlight shining through the tiny vase!

 Such a sweet and cheery sign of the new season...like little singing mouths praising the new day!

 Tiny willow buds still coming out...

 These are not the same as the big fat ones I got on the beach, but slender

little ones from the woods...

 Outside the rattlesnake plantain is making an appearance.

So named for it's mottled leaves. I believe it's in the orchid family but

doesn't produce much of a flower. It's a wee thing which has leaves only about

4" long at the most. It pokes through the mossy undergrowth of dappled forest...

 The small but mighty honey bees were VERY happy floating around in the sun yesterday...

 They're busy spring cleaning, removing the dead bees who didn't make it through the winter...

The kale which has survived all winter is about to flower which will

help the honeybees until more spring and summer flowers are out.

So don't cut down the kale just yet!

The fish in the pond have been resurfacing and playing amongst the new lily leaves...

And the garlic is coming up nicely too...a few small pruning of the leaves
will be added to dishes for some fresh spring flavour!

So there you have it...some small but encouraging signs alive and well!