march 12 of 12: winter's end

here's my 12 of 12 for the month of march, the result of a weekend outing looking for hopeful signs of change in nature. 

..............

snow is melting rapidly! where the snowblower has cleared storm after storm, there are paths of wet and flattened grass, banked with still untouched snow. it's good to walk on solid ground again. 

furniture long buried begins to emerge. there's a bucket of holly and pine on the table in there some where!

some things emerge from the snow and you wonder how long they've been buried and how they got there in the first place! as the snow melts away, all sorts of strange and wonderful things, covered for months, show up in melted banks or on muddy patches. one year i found a small pile of loose change!

i'm not sure why this happens. snow melts away from the trunks of trees, forming these little circular depressions. they get larger and wider and soon, forest debris from fall will show itself again around the tree. this is the reason i like to plant spring-flowering bulbs at the base of trees. it's one of the first places to melt!

finally, back country roads are clear down to the pavement - or to the mud if they're dirt. either way, it's a lot easier driving the scenic route these days!

but all's not rosy on these types of road. spring signage appears, warning motorists of the perils involved with driving them. bumps and potholes and fissures in the pavement. huge puddles and water across the road. there are routes around here that are so bad, folks avoid them strictly because of the stories that have been told year after year!

lining these roads are tall banks of snow, covered with dirt from the road or from the sanding of icy spots. no more snow comes to dust them white again so, as the melting occurs, more and more grime is revealed. not until the banks have completely melted will the dirt be blown back into woods and yards. right now, it looks really awful. 

in the snow that remains, rivulets of water make their way to low spots or culverts. tiny rivers carving their way to an outlet. 

and streams where there were none! as snow from above melts, water cascades down from the mountains and high hills, seeking the same sort of outlet. the sound of the water is uplifting, a spring song for my winter-weary soul. 

water collects everywhere these days! this is one of the numerous puddles in the yard and those brown things floating on it are alive!! i wonder if they may be snow fleas, one of the first insects to hatch as winter ends. i've never seen them in water like this though, only out leaping and dancing on snowbanks in the warm sunshine. 

the last of the ice dams finally clears the roof, making such a racket that i hear the sound far down road as i'm taking these pictures! and i knew instantly what it was without even looking!

finally, buds. they're tiny but they're coming. at long last.