Raising my spirits

Was it the smile of early spring
That made my bosom glow?
'Twas sweet, but neither sun nor wind
Could raise my spirit so.

Was it some feeling of delight,
All vague and undefined?
No, 'twas a rapture deep and strong,
Expanding in the mind!
~Anne Bronte

Winter and Spring are fighting, the days feel like Spring and but the nights still feel like Winter. You see things like this....
The new green of the moss and the icicles hanging right near it. But there is no snow so I am not complaining!

I have been out and about working in the garden and on the lawn. The black walnuts are raked up (go kids!), the hop vines cut, the asparagus and rhubarb beds raked, the garden raked into a nice burn pile. Tomorrow, I hope to rake the flower bed around the pond and then it is onto the large garden. I almost bought seed potatoes today but decided to wait until that garden is ready. I did however pick up some potting mix etc so I can get some seeds started.

At the present time I have rhubarb, snow drops, columbine, grape hyacinths, irises, daffodil, garden hyacinths, day lily, bleeding heart, hops, lovage, garlic, walking onions, comfrey, chives, anise hyssop, and hollyhocks coming up. The hollyhocks that show life are by the greenhouse so I am not sure they count but I will add it in there anyhow because it is GREEN!

In fiber news I finished the back of the poncho and started on the front but didn't think doing cables and side decreases would work out well in waiting rooms so I started version A of the Ice Queen on Friday. I did the first 20 rows so far and have just the 4 row repeat (14X) to do now. And I actually did a crocheted cast on -Thank You Audrey for showing me that.

Also today I came home from the feed store to find Mom bought me a bouquet of daffodils with all the proceeds going to colon cancer. My ex-MIL died of color cancer. She had tests run three years in a row and they showed polyps but she never bothered to proceed further even though it was advised. Within six weeks of retirement she was diagnosed and died two months after her first grandchild (#1 daughter) was born. She was a truly amazing woman who died far to young. I am glad information is now more available and programs such as this bring it more to the forefront and collect money for more research.