happy friday~lucky 13th even. :)

{tah-dah!}

this has been the week.

the week i saw my first sign of spring here in all our snow.  a pussy willow tree in a neighbor's snow covered yard. 

i was G I D D Y ! (photo above) 

i cannot express what that does for one's mind, or i should say my mind.

last year it was no different.  me walking with a double stroller, 2 toddlers in tow, on a cold day in portland with 2 little ones, across the street from a popular bar full of lunchtime patrons,  i saw them.

{last year's "tah-dah!"}

little yellow suns that took my breath away.  i might have done a jig, i cannot remember, i literally locked the stroller wheels (it is quite a downhill incline at this spot) got on my knees in the dirty grimy snow to shoot pictures of them. i wanted to hug them!  yeah,  you can say it, winter makes me a little stranger than strange!   i know this. i clearly remember pulling myself together and standing up then looking over to the big glass windows of the bar seeing all these guys , barstools turned, staring at me.  oh yes that was me.  if kellen and casey had been a few years older they would be running down the street hiding their faces in horror of their embarrassing mom!  

again i am not from maine, i am "from away"  as they say here.  :) 

i do not dislike snow, 

i just dislike the length of it here.

i am just not a winter person.  i don't ski or ice skate.

i can appreciate the exhilaration of those first few snows.  the white stillness and beauty in that. the snowman building, the hot chocolate, my new appreciation for all things knitted and warm, yes all good things.   

i DO love seasons, change, just this change seems so very slow.   yes it has gotten to me, just like last winter, it wore me down.  

i have lived where there are no seasons, Florida.  i have hung christmas lights on palm trees, bought ornaments with santa adorned with bermuda shorts.  i have photos of swimming in the gulf on THANKSGIVING!  it is a whole other way of life.  yes it gets hot as the sun in summer there. so then you complain about the heat.   it is a funny thing how the body adjusts to such extremes.  

but yesterday i felt a shift in my mind.  i KNOW winter does not last forever. 

that is how the saying goes...

" no winter lasts forever.

   no spring skips its turn."

 i know this, yet feeling it is sometimes hard here in the late weeks of winter.  but yesterday i saw it.  i know even though we may very well get more snow,  that spring is working its way back.  warmer days will come.  we will be outdoors and watching every little growing thing.  it makes you appreciate spring and summer SO much more.   i just wish they lasted as long as winter.

do you get this way? 

what signs of change excite you? 

***i have a little favor of any readers or flickrers out there with "Flat Stanley" photos...  moms may be familiar with "Flat Stanley"  from the children's book.  if you have any photos of him please add to a friend's group, she is looking for as many as she can get.  you can send them to Lecia here. 

happy weekend to all.  forecast for here is in the 40's, oh yeah baby!