Spring Has Sprung!

If you were to step out my front door today, here are a few of the splendid signs of Spring that you might enjoy ...

First, you would hear the sweet "tweet-tweet-tweeting" of the birds that live in the tree by our front window.  The little sparrows that dart in and out of the evergreen have built a number of nests over the years and we enjoy hearing their little babies squeaking excitedly as Mom and Dad return home with a morsel to share.

Next, you might spot our vinca vine poking up in the front flower-bed.  The tiny violet blooms that are peeking their heads up from among the bark and leaves are a delightful surprise!  How they have managed to wriggle their way up and out from the mass of strawberry plants that surround them is proof of their tenacity and determination!

Precious, Purple Posies

A few steps out into our lawn, and you will find clusters of little, golden dandelions.  Here and there across the grass you will find these little bundles of sunshine.  My husband isn't thrilled about them, but Petey is delighted!  Also, my girls are rather exuberant about plucking the little flowers to bring in to Mommy:  inexpensive, little bouquets of love.

Dandy, Delicious Dandelions

If you head to the backyard, you will encounter our raised beds - ready and waiting for planting.  In one corner of a planter you might find this delicious explosion of green!  Truly delicious because these are our garlic and chive plants.  I am beside myself with excitement to begin using fresh herbs and home-grown vegetables in my cooking again ... an explosion of green on our dinner plates, too!

Heaven-sent, Hardy Herbs

In the back flower bed, you might find these little fellows.  This is our first year planting snap-peas and we are excited to watch our little sweetie-peas climb up the trellis and produce a bushel of tender little bites of sweetness.  I can picture our kids outside grazing this summer ... hand, mouths and bellies full of those splendid little green guys!  Hope they save a few for me. :)

Scrumptiously Snack-able Sweet-peas

If you look to the sky, there are a few possible spring delights for you to see.  On any given spring day here in Colorado, the weather will range from ...
"crystal clear, it hurts your eyes it's so bright" blue sky to
"cotton-ball clouds" puttering across a crisp blue sky to
"rainclouds gathering, grey and menacing from the west" sky to
"no blue to be found" slate sky with glimpses of skittering snowflakes.
And if you don't particularly like the sky you see right now ... come back out in 15 minutes and you'll see something different.

Dark & Drippy

Crisp & Clear

The final sign that spring has finally come to the Grand Valley would be ...

Spring Clean-up!

Rounded-up Rejected Rubbish

Every year at this time junk, branches, furniture and building materials begin appearing on the streets.  If you live within the city limits, you can drag out anything and everything (including your kitchen sink) and have it hauled away for free.  This is the season to purge your house, yard, shed and garage of unwanted garbage and not feel bad about it.  In this picture you can't see the dried-up Christmas tree (that would be ours), the tree stump, the TV cabinet (also ours), the bundle of branches or the BBQ (ours, again).  Actually, you can't see the BBQ because somebody took it home ...

And that leads me to the truly amazing aspect of Spring Clean-Up:  the number of people who drive around town and claim someone else's trash as their treasure!  Most of the items that we put out in the pile actually get loaded up and carted away by someone other than the city trucks.  In fact, as I was taking these snapshots, I caught this last one:

TV cabinet Tied-up in a Truck

Yep ... Spring has sprung!

Anybody need a dried-up Christmas tree?  Only used once.

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Prompt #4 ~ "Photo Story: Take a walk through your neighborhood this week and share some pictures of what Spring looks like where you live."