Come Spring... I NEED Some Color!

Spring will come slowly to Oak Hill Lodge this year. These pictures were taken March 23, they show that though the sun is warm and has melted away the snow where its glorious rays touch the anxious ground, where it cannot shine there is still a good foot and a half of snow. I wandered the field taking in the warmth of the sun, but closing up my coat collar against the brisk March wind. The snow is so crusty, in many areas I am able to walk atop it. The driveway, where it has been plowed is down to earth, which when we arrived was hard as rock, but within a couple hours, the sun had worked its magic and the very top of the ground had begun to muddy up. Walking by the hosta beds, I spied the very first sign I have found that spring WILL come. A cluster of 3 daffodil shoots were emerging from under the pine needle mulch. What a joyous sight!
I am so glad to see just the slightest promise that this long, cold winter will relent.

Winter of 2014 at the Lodge

It was an exceptional winter in Maine. We had plenty of snow at Christmas and a real "January Thaw" where we lost most of what had fallen. Thank goodness we did as soon after the snow and the cold returned and as I am writing this in late March, we still have plenty of snow cover.... a foot and a half in places where the sun don't shine! The snow is still so beautiful when we have a new storm, but the cold has been so severe this year, that has been what I have minded. Today it was in the single numbers when I got up... breaking records in Portland for the date. The sun feels warm now though and it registered 90 degrees on a 26 degree day in the greenhouse!