Spring is springing

And so suddenly, too! I feel like just the weekend before last we were skiing? Errr... maybe it was three weeks ago. Anyway, now there are robins and chickadees, and the sun in shining and warming everything, the mud is drying up, the dogs are shedding, and spring is rolling around as it always has. Temperatures are 40F/4C at night and 65F/18C midday. The nights do not get dark any more. Gaining daylight always seems less startling than losing it. Maybe because every night, I see fewer stars, but I always see a few, even at dusk. But in the falltime, there is always that one night I go out and BAM! The sky is a glittering wonder, and I am stunned into silence that apparently I had in the prior six months forgotten yet again how beautiful, how gorgeous, how breathtaking, a truly dark night sky is.

From what I hear, reductions in air pollution due to the coronavirus shutdowns have cleared the air in urban areas, too. Truly, this is an unprecedentedly sad, upsetting, and disruptive time to be alive. But there are small comforts to be had, so let us have them. One for me is that now that everyone is connecting in online gatherings, I can join gatherings that I never had before due to the distance. BT's book club! My high school friends' regular discussions! The Anchorage chapter of the Society of Women Engineers! Academic conferences are free and don't require pants or shoes! All of this is really wonderful.

Well, here are photos of the Changing of the Seasons.

Well, first here is a photo of my faithful kitchen supervisors:


I got this photo with the aid of broccoli:


Cricket loveslovesloves to kerflop in the sunshine:


Thistle does Not. She seems rather committed to the couchal life:


Look! Today I saw grass for the first time this spring:


Although there is still snow, too:


Thistle looking very regal on the porch:


Cricket guarding the bird feeder from squirrels:


She posed very nicely with our flamingos:


Aaaaaaand there is also this. Ugh!


Thistle is such a schweetie. I think she is starting to love me!


She is getting more comfy around us in general:


The buds are not quiiiiiiite open, but they are ready to burst out:


Cricket being all ladylike and crossing her paws:


She is so cuddly!