Popcorn Popping...It's almost Spring!

I love Spring! Growing up in Southern Alberta, I did enjoy a good snow day in the winter. I love tobogganing and Christmas. I loved the huge drifts that would build up in the backyard that we would tunnel through and it does make me a little sad that my kids aren't enjoying that. But, even loving the snow fun, every time that Chinook ran through and the temperature warmed up and ever thing melted, it made you like "OOOH.....its almost Spring..."Even if Spring doesn't really hit until the middle of April, and the warmth the middle of May. But you still thought about it. Heck, I remember wearing shorts and a heavy sweater in March just because it hit 15 degrees outside. (I think it stormed that night!) But by Easter time every year, even with snow on the ground, you would still find traces of Spring popping up! I love Spring for that fact...it reminds you of a new start, that even though the Winter is long and cold, warmth is on the way!

I remember finding crocuses growing through the snow in the yard, or Mom's tulips starting to bloom by Easter, or finding the little fuzzy branches of the Pussy Willow tree. I remember feeling excited to see the robins, because they didn't show up until it got warm, so if they were there, Spring must be! So I love Spring, because it tells me that warmth and good times of Summer are almost here.

Now living in California, we don't really have Winter. Some native Californians would probably beg to differ, but I think of it more like a long Autumn. It does get cold, and yes it does snow in the mountains, but its not crazy 20 degrees below 0 cold, and the snow doesn't stay. 

And signs of Spring come extra early. In fact, alot of the trees that just finished losing their leaves are getting new buds again. Within a month it will be full blown green again! ( And I can wear shorts on a regular basis, no heavy sweater needed!) But there are still the signs of Spring that only come once a year that remind me...

Now I got a new camera as the old one went ca put. Its nothing fancy, but its fun, and I've been playing with it a bit, taking some weird shots of plants etc. because they don't move and they do as they are told! And Here are my takes on the Arrival of Spring. Including the Popcorn Tree! We have alot of tees that flower around us, and I love my neighbors Pink Tree, the blossoms are gorgeous and the leaves are purple after! I really liked the pics of the rose bush. It had just rained the night before and the drops just hung around the edges, it looked really neat. The picture of the leaf is yes, frost. We do get a little frost in the 'Winter'!