Spring in Minnesota.

Minnesota is not a place where people take spring for granted. We wait for it. We earn it. We watch for it. And this year it's come early.

It's funny how we forget what it looks like. I know this lilac bush will have delicious smelling flowers for a short time, but I'd forgotten that green leaves shoot out of these woody branches, so wintery-looking you can't imagine they're actually still alive. And these gorgeous green shoots will be daylilies, I think yellow. And I will tell Alla not to pick them, please don't pick them honey because once you do, they're just gone and they're all the flower we've got out here. But she'll pick them anyway and I'll bring them inside and put them in water, and they'll last just a little while.

But what I'd really forgotten about is our tree. That big tree of Maple Monday fame. How it goes from being a big old bunch of withered branches with fall's dead leaves still hanging on, to an actual shade-giving tree. So I've been watching it. I noticed the poofy balls shooting from it a couple weeks ago, and then green sprouts came from those. And now, wonder of wonders, baby leaves. Only they're quickly growing up, and, as Alla said just this morning, are really 'big kid leaves,' not babies.

I hope you're noticing and enjoying spring in your neck of the woods!