People I talk to insist we'll get more snow before we're done this (non-)winter, but they're just being grumpy. I saw a robin and some redwinged blackbirds today and that's all the proof I need that we've turned the corner. There's just a thin skin of ice left on the pond:




Things are beginning to look alive again ...




... including garlic mustard. I don't know how it dares show its face here after all the hard work that's been done to eradicate it, but there you go:





I think this must have been a very neat rabbit:





As for this, wow. I don't even want to know:




Finally, Don Watcher posted a picture of an "inukshuk" so I thought I'd counter with the Beechwood version:

Happy spring, and stay tuned for a new season of Beechwood reports, beginning soon!

I'm sorting through some photos from last fall and over the winter. Here's a selection:

Freeze-dried mud:

Varieties of fungus:

If I get bored with my regular tasks at Beechwood this year I might try a little art project.

This just in: more good ideas for my spare time.