Early Signs of Spring

I took the boys on a nice long walk today. At first Thomas wasn't terribly interested, so I tried to make it fun by suggesting we bring the camera and try to capture some early signs of spring. We might have been pushing it. There is one type of tree around every corner here that does have buds, and we have lots of robins, but otherwise we saw mostly dirty mounds of snow and trash all over the place (early signs of spring too, I suppose). That said, we had a nice walk, and we did capture a few photos.

First, robins; my great grandmother always noted the first one she saw each year. I think she even marked it down on her calendar. (Mom?) They were the first signs of spring, and now my mom, my sisters, and I all notice those first few robins too, and a little touch of joy and remembrance fills our hearts as we think of our sweet great grandmother and all her wonderful little favorite moments. I still think of her every time I see a robin, whether the first of the year or one of many in late summer. I'm so glad-and so thankful-to know and remember such grand little things like that.

On a different note, December's severe ice storm seemed to have left its mark on almost every tree. We knew the landscape would change dramatically, but this tree really caught my eye. It was one of a very picturesque row of beautiful trees. Most of the others lost only a few branches. This one, however, seemed to have fought hard to save its thickest arches and bows. There was another branch that had completely twisted around several times. (I took some photos and uploaded them to flickr, but I didn't focus properly, and my angle wasn't ideal, so the intricate twisting turned out a bit hard to see.) There were also three pointy branches sticking straight up that had been completely shredded.

Of course we took in some of the simpler things on our walk too... like mini-pine cones and lounging with our feet up on the stroller's snack bar. Silly Monkey.