Blizzard in April

I don’t know what’s worse about a blizzard in April: the fact that it’s so wet and slushy, or the fact that it’s April. No wonder they call it the cruelest month.
~Nancy Atherton
Aunt Dimity’s Death

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Okay, so it's not exactly blizzard conditions outside...yet...but there is definitely snow. We awoke to a fresh carpet blanketing the almost-green grass and are under a winter weather advisory until 7am Monday. While there seems to be a lull right now, it's supposed to pick up again as the afternoon wears on, with a few inches dropped on us by tomorrow. I want spring, darn it! I'm tired of cold weather and turtlenecks. I want weather warm enough for short sleeves, if not shorts. I want lilacs and tulips, daffodils and magnolias. I want temperatures in the low 70s, not the low 40s or 30s. I want spring!

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ETA (Late Sunday): Thankfully, we did not receive the snow predicted. They were originally calling for 4-8 inches in our area, then amended it to 2-4...we got 0.9, for a seasonal total of 72 inches. Apparently, snow across Iowa and Illinois drew off the moisture in the air needed for snow to fall here. So, while radar snowed that there should be snow falling here, it didn't. Whew!

Thursday Thirteen 99: Spring!

In honor of Friday’s vernal equinox —a spring post!

Did you know there are 45 definitions for the word spring in the dictionary? Here are but a few of them.

–verb (used without object)
1. to rise, leap, move, or act suddenly and swiftly, as by a sudden dart or thrust forward or outward, or being suddenly released from a coiled or constrained position: to spring into the air; a tiger about to spring.
2. to issue forth suddenly, as water, blood, sparks, fire, etc. (often fol. by forth, out, or up): Blood sprang from the wound.
3. to come into being, rise, or arise within a short time (usually fol. by up): Industries sprang up in the suburbs.
4. to proceed or originate from a specific source or cause.
5. to start or rise from cover, as a pheasant, woodcock, or the like.
6. to explode, as a mine.

–verb (used with object)
7. to cause to spring.
8. to split or crack: The ship sprang its keel on a rock.
9. to stretch or bend (a spring or other resilient device) beyond its elastic tolerance: This clip has been sprung.
10. Slang. to secure the release of (someone) from confinement, as of jail, military service, or the like.

–noun
11. a leap, jump, or bound.
12. an issue of water from the earth, taking the form, on the surface, of a small stream or standing as a pool or small lake.
13. a source or fountainhead of something: a spring of inspiration.

BONUS:
14. (in temperate zones) the season of the year following winter and characterized by the budding of trees, growth of plants, the onset of warmer weather, etc. The vernal equinox.



LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Stephanie Adkins * Alice Audrey * Adelle Laudan
Shelley Munro * Anthony North * Scarlett Sanderson
Hootin' Anni * Ms Menozzi * Jamie Babette * Carmen Shirkey
Colleen * Jennifer McKenzie * Janice Seagraves * Ayla
Lanie Fuller * Paige Tyler * Clara * Pop Art Diva * Claudia
ChameleonsDream

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things.

Candid Marshes

Ye marshes, how candid and simple and nothing-withholding and free
Ye publish yourselves to the sky and offer yourselves to the sea!
~Sidney Lanier

Raspberry Blossoms

Raspberry Blossoms
May 2008

Fresh and Bright

Alas, the Daffodil's time has come and gone
until another spring. Maybe next year
they'll stick around a while longer!

Anyone Home?

Spring 2008

Mourning Dove Eggs

Market Daffodils

Bouquets of fresh daffodils for sale at the Saturday
Farmer's Market on the Capitol Square.

And Dances With the Daffodils

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
~Wordsworth

Here tulips bloom

Here tulips bloom as they are told;
Unkempt about those hedges blows
An English unoffocial rose.
~Rupert Brooke

Tulips

Tulips are finally blooming -- can spring really be here??

Soon...

Soon, we may see the daffodils peeking their lazy heads above the soil. Crocus are finally in bloom, but tulips and daffodils are a bit late to the party this year. Can you blame them, after the winter we had??