farewell to winter

We are very in between seasons here... some days will be like spring, but a few can still be winter... much of the snow has melted away, but not all...

The girls have now spent many long days outside, at least the long driveway is clear enough for lots of running up and down.

They had been watching those piles of snow, knowing which ones would melt away first, and talking on and on about all that they would be creating out of the mud for their "fairy house people" this spring. (but so you know, they are not really fairies, they are just people like us, but they are very little. of course there are real fairies too, but that is very different and these are not them.) Their first long days work... chairs, baskets, cradles, dolls, there is nothing they will not make out of the mud! Of course later in the season the grasses, flowers, leaves, and seeds will provide much of what the fairy house people need.

The hillside facing our house, just across the dirt road, sunny and bare, brown with pine needles...

and the family of deer that sometimes make their home there, browsing in the sunlight, or sleeping in their shady beds...

All day long, the girls playing out front in the sun, the deer right up on the hillside, it was like they were spending the day together. If a car came along the deer would pause, listen, wait. But the talking, singing, laughing and going about of my girls caused them no concern. How happy we are to share these days with those sweet animals.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention the day when the deer where off somewhere else, so the fox visited instead! Look closely and you might be able to see... (the girls would not go out that day!)

It was supposed to snow all weekend, or maybe rain if we're lucky, or maybe nothing. It did snow a bit this morning, but see what the sky was looking like in the afternoon. Pretty nice! Of course it was snowing again by evening, but just the tiniest flakes, they really were dancing, floating about in all directions, even up. The wind has been blowing strong, not sure what it's saying though, it's cold but it feels so good and fresh.

Even if winter chooses not to leave us quite yet, there is still such a bright happy feeling in the air. And tomorrow we will celebrate the first day of spring. Wishing a very happy new season to you all!