Nature Show: Spring

15th February: spring?!

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M.
 
We're expecting temperatures around 15 to 18 degrees Celsius (around 60+ Fahrenheit) today. So far, our "winter" has consisted of four days of snowfall (including one "sludge" storm) and one half day of snow-covered surfaces. It's crazy. And nature reacts accordingly; many early bloomers are already at it. Ten more days of this, and fruit trees will join in. After that, every serious night frost holds the thread of heavy losses for our local fruit farmers, some of whom are friends of mine. Last year, they narrowly escaped desaster (by a day or two, I'm told) - only to experience a fantastic year, except for the cherries since some parasitic fruit fly ("vinegar fly", literally translated) ruined most of them; those critters love the warm days, too. But two years back, they lost most the harvest due to warm days early in the year with about a week of continuous frost in late March. This year, the warmth is a lot more persistent (and it's even earlier in the year). We'll have to wait and see - I really hope they'll manage (I usually buy local if at all possible).

M.
 
My grass is greening up and little tufts are appearing. The pussywillow tree is budding and I actually saw a @&#%¥£ dandelion in flower yesterday. Of course, we are getting a bit of a cold snap over the weekend, with the milder temperatures returning next week. We also go back to daylight savings time a week from Sunday. More light for shooting I guess.
 
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