Spring by any other name...

In most parts of the country, today would be a winter's day. It is 40 degrees with a 15 mile-an-hour wind coming off Lake Michigan. It's that damp cold that goes to the bones. Rain is marching in. I got an email from one of my local gardener friends reminding me that this time last year we were shoveling more than 12 inches of snow.

But it is Spring. Some iris rhizomes that I had dumped in the wine barrel next to garage last autumn have little green things poking out. The lawn has this hint of green under the brown. The first of the migrating birds are stuffing themselves at my bird feeders.

But how I really know it is spring--the days are longer than 12 hours of daylight. This morning's sunrise over the lake started at 6:50 (I see that from my kitchen window -- the sunrise, not the lake) and sunset (we won't see it today because of clouds) will be at 7:09.

Light really does say that winter is receding.