CROCUSES ARE BLOOMING

THE BEACH...ALL ICED IN AGAIN YESTERDAY

CROCUSES ARE BLOOMING...

......DRIVEN OVER, PLOWED UP...TOUGH AS NAILS

Saturday, 8:00 AM.  37 degrees F at the ferry dock and on the back porch. Wind variable and calm.  The sky is mostly cloudy, the humidity 75%.  The barometer is steady, at 30.19".  The  predictions are for warm temperatures for the next few days, then cooling considerably, with chances of rain or snow showers midweek.  It looks like Old Man Winter won't go easily.
   On the other hand, crocuses are blooming, and tulip leaves emerging.  Crocus species are native or naturalized  in central Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and central Asia, and grow from sea level to alpine areas in woodlands and meadows. they have been used in horticulture since the mid Seventeenth Century, when they were introduced in Holland, but parts of the female flower have been used as the spice (and dye) saffron for at least four thousand years, and were an expensive object of early trade.
   Crocuses announce the arrival of spring wherever they are planted.