Something about the first of March unleashed a yearning in me for green. Our weather has been ricocheting between frozen and fair. I grabbed my camera and went on a quest, hoping to capture a crocus. One crocus.
I found heaps of ugly.
Black snow banks.
Mud.
Leaf-mold.
A litter-strewn vacant lot.
Dead stalks gawking.
Color, where are you?
A tiny leaf hung on through this severe winter.
Yay, daffs!!
Marvelous moss!!
Snow is sticking to the higher elevations. Side note: I am easily annoyed with the unimaginative street names in my town. A grid of the alphabet and numbers. But Penn Avenue follows O Avenue. Because no one wants to live on P Avenue!
Leftover red.
Now this is what I was searching for — that bright green that sings Spring!
I always return to this turret. Turrets are terrific. I’m counting on turrets in heaven.
Love the blue bench.
A befitting front door.
Voted Best Receptacle
Of course I had to peruse the Little Free Library. I took home The Martian.
I had given up on finding flowers. No crocus. But, three blocks from home, beauty interrupted my walk. I’m the worst at plant identification. If I called these Lily of the Valley would I be correct? I would be incorrect. These are Snowdrops. They were an afternoon benediction.
A Living Pencil 
Those my friend are Snowdrops. I was first introduced to them while living in England. They are the very first flower of Spring and start blooming in Febuary. The bulbs spread and fill up entire fields, a sight to behold. They quickly became my most treasured and sought after flower.
Thank you! I need to plant some of these bulbs. A flower that blooms in February is priceless!
Yes, snowdrops! We have them here, too!
I loved following along on your walk. Especially the mailbox, and blue bench. And “P” Avenue, snicker!
Thanks, my dear Swiss Miss! Isn’t that mailbox fantastic?
What a delight to “walk” with you. Thank you for sharing. I love your honesty about your flower identification skills – made me smile. Lily of the Valley bloom in May (here in your old neck of the woods) and of course made me think of the song “White Coral Bells” which I remember singing at Pioneer Girls and at camp. Oh, to burst into harmony with you on that lovely tune now! 🙂
Yes, I was humming White Coral Bells, too! To sing with you…why don’t we do that when we have our annual breakfast? 🙂 Do you think the other people in the restaurant would mind?!!
You gave me an idea, Andrea. I was stumped on how to find the flowers when I didn’t know the name. But I could have searched by the time of bloom. “White flowers that bloom early” or something like that.
The best kind of photojournalism. I would follow you almost anywhere! However, having grown up in a city based on a grid system (with only numbers) I will jettison clever and pretty street names in favor of practicality and ease of location. By the way, my street name is Wind Chime Way. So pretty. But no one knows where the heck it is 🙂
I would find Wind Chime Way! That reminds me of when we were considering moving to Oregon from California. I looked at the map and found Sweet Home. Oh, can you image cute return address labels with Sweet Home, OR on them? Then my MIL told me that there is a paper mill there, giving the town a nasty Sulphur smell. Oh, well!
What I hate the most about street names: when all the number names one direction are “Avenue” (23rd Ave.) and all the (same) numbers on intersecting roads are “Street” (23rd St.). You can be on 23rd and 23rd. Grrr.
I guess you have to understand the grid in order to navigate.
Our snowdrops bloomed a couple of months ago, but then things bloom earlier this close to the Gulf Coast Southern breezes. 😉 Right now we have “redbud” trees ( I do not know their “real” name) blossoming all around town and their dark pink flowers always make me smile. I agree with you about the 23 Ave and 23 St. That is confusing. In our town we have a University Ave. and one town over they have University Blvd. Dueling universities are on each street, so they are named correctly. Thank you for a glimpse of your town right now, love that arched door!
You sound so much like me ! My sister from another mister. LOL 😀
♥
I enjoyed your “walk around town”. My favorites are the beautiful blue bird bath and the turreted house. I am intrigued by the Little Free Library. Does someone have this in front of their home with free books for passerbys? How fascinating. We have snowdrops lining the sidewalk in front of our house. They always give me hope after a long, gray winter!
Debbie, I think you can find plans to build your own Little Free Library on the Internet. Our son and his family built their own and placed it in front of their home and are having fun seeing what folks come to take and what they leave. Some merchants have Little Free Libraries at their businesses. We visited one at a coffee shop in Buena Vista, CO last year.
Thank you, jep! This is a new concept to me. How fun that you encountered one outside a coffee shop.
Jep,having a LFL at a business is a new one with me. What a grand idea!
The closest I’ve seen to that was a rack of skanky novels, replete with ‘Cleveland’ on the covers, at a beauty salon. Not up to standards of a LFL for sure!
Sorry for my tardy reply, Debbie! The Little Free Library was by the sidewalk in front of a corner house. I can’t walk past it without checking!!
Carol, we saw another LFL in front of a (according to my husband) radio station in Salida, CO, but I think it was a family planning/counseling center. Maybe it was both since there were two doors. 😉 I should buy a bumper sticker that says, “We brake for Little Free Libraries,” because we do!
A perfect sentiment!
Several years ago we purchased a subscription to the Colorado Springs Symphony. On our first night we were unsure of where our seats were, so showed our ticket to a woman employed for just that purpose. She took a quick look at the ticket, said, “Go down to doors, take a left and look for the P on the floor.” Then she paused and said, “Oh, that didn’t come out right!”
And so it is with P Avenue.
Doug, haha!!