February 2 2010 - the end of a long, bleak winter?

It's Groundhog Day all over the nation and here in our little spot in the upper left hand corner of the country, we finished the day in our traditional manner - moving heaven and earth and even homework to ensure that we squeezed in our annual Groundhog Day screening before collapsing into bed.

But, before that happy event, we spent a truly spring-like day mostly outdoors. It was positively balmy and our decrepit, ancient, and horribly neglected apple tree stood begging us to come hither with pruners, loppers, and saws. So, we obliged. 2 short hours later, we could stand back and admire the 20% of the job we had managed to tackle. Oh well - it's a start!

And it felt good, stripping away dead wood under the bright light of a benevolent sun. It felt like this year, Mr. Punxsutawney Phil might be prescient in his prediction of a desperately wished for early spring. Maybe, just maybe today is a harbinger of the good, new growth to come. Here, and elsewhere.