Winter's Last Stand

The sun grows stronger. The birds are starting to return.

Spring may be in the air, but it's not on the ground. We've got more than a foot of snow, with much more mounded along sidewalks and driveways. Tonight, the temperature will drop into the single digits (on the Fahrenheit scale, that is).

Brrr. All this after we'd been teased by a few late February days with highs in the 40s.

Winter was fairly mild this year, with only a few days of below-zero temperatures. Snow cover was minimal. I don't expect much winter kill, except among the late transplants. I moved a lot of plants last fall. Truth be told, some of them got put in really late. I'm anxious to see what survives.

Looking out over the blanket of snow, I'm reminded of the Philip Larkin poem, First Sight. Here in this "wretched width of cold," we wait for "Earth's immeasurable surprise."

What so soon will wake and grow
Utterly unlike the snow.

UPDATE: Same scene, one week later. The sun rules.