signs of spring

So since all of you Ohioans are buried under snow this weekend, I thought it was a great opportunity to rub our daffodils in your face—maybe it's just petty jealousy for missing out on the blizzard-like conditions. Who knows—you too could have daffodils buried under the snow the way your weather's going.


(That's our place to the left of the tree in the foreground)

Turns out there are some benefits to an English winter. Monotony.

There's been a lot of rain and wind with a sprinkling of sleet, some frost, an occasional ice sheet on the windshield, and a flake or two of snow. I'd say the temperature has mostly been between the low 40s and and low 50s—not the upper 20s to low 70s you experience in the same week.

Our unexpected trip home in February accentuated some of the benefits of a moist English winter. We don't have static or really dry skin and can breathe easier because the inside of our noses aren't raw. I also have to backpedal on one statement I found myself saying while at home. Metaphorically I can stand by it, but taken literally it's false—"The grass isn't greener in England." Technically, it is. Or at least 90% of it is in the winter. I don't know if it's a different kind or if it's the lack of subzero temperatures, but it has looked this green ever since we got here.


So as you shovel your driveways, we are relishing the steady progress towards spring. And, I guess in that respect, a blizzard would be mentally defeating. The sun will set here at 5:54pm tonight. There's light at the end of our long, steady tunnel. Literally.