What a difference a year makes...

All of the local school districts are on Spring Break this week.  So of course we woke up this morning to a dusting of snow on the ground.  Spring is here, but it is advancing at a much slower pace than last year.  Our current temperature is 26 degrees Fahrenheit, and our high today is expected to top out at 35 degrees with snow showers.  When I went out last week to take photographs there was still a lot of ice and snow in the woods - flowers were still an impossible vision of the future.  Last year at this time...  That was a different story.

Skunk cabbage leaves were over 6 inches tall

Marsh Marigold was getting ready to flower

Bloodroot was flowering

And so was Spring Beauty

The Tree Swallows were back and squabbling over nest boxes

Large-flowered trillium was flowering

So was Dutchman's Breeches

Blue Cohosh too

And Cut-leaved Toothwort

Wild Leek was carpeting the forest floor

And ferns were sending up their fiddleheads.