Spring Has Sprung

When we first came to Ann Arbor everyone told us that winter would begin at the end of October and continue through to the end of April. We have not found that to be true this season, though, everyone assured us that this has been an unusually light winter. In any case, the birds have returned and the flowers are blooming, so we're pretty sure Spring has arrived.

The local hardware store has a billboard to which announcements and funny things are posted. At the beginning of winter, a huge pile of bags appeared below the sign and it read "Yup, sorry, it's rock salt." A few months later, when winter really hadn't come at all, the bags were still there and the sign said "Yes, it's still rock salt." But when we passed the sign the other day, one side read:

And below the sign we saw these new bags:

And now the sign reads:

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day! The sun was out, (real sun, not the weak little rays we've been having) it was 65°F, and there was a warm breeze. Everyone was out when we went for a walk, and everyone was smiling. It definitely helps that it stays light for longer too. Most people gave us a cheery "Hello!" as we walked by, except for one little girl who poked her head out her front door and, unprovoked, yelled at us "You nasty!" I guess not everyone enjoys the beautiful weather...

Before yesterday the temperature had been warming, but we'd also had some surprise snow. See the snow squalls?

Snow blowing across the road.

So we weren't really convinced that it was the end of winter. However, Jake reminded me that Fall was a strange transition time too, with one day super hot and the next cold. Anyway, after our walk we were sure Spring had sprung. Look at all the new blooms we saw!

Witch hazel. 

A red variety.

A type of succulent.

Even the trees are happy and some of them have started to bud.

I love to see the bulbs come out of the ground, fresh and green among all the dead grass.

New shoots in our garden. 

Tulips.

Heart! 

And, as I mentioned, the birds have come back. I tried to get some pictures but they move so fast! So far I've seen Mourning Doves, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Red Robins, Sparrows, and two Great Blue Herons. There have also been a ton of Common Grackles. Here are some pictures and I'll try to post more as I get them.

Cardinal

Common Grackle

Common Grackle through my binoculars.

Also take a look at the Birds page for some new pictures.

In honor of Spring we has a spring-ish meal of Thai burgers and french fries, so yum!

On gluten free buns from Udi's.

In other news, I've continued to experiment with my ceramic loaf pan and every loaf comes out with a perfect rise. Here is the Challah I baked last Friday:

And, speaking of bread, now that I have regular-sized sandwich bread, I am able to say "Make mine a gluten free cheese sandwich!"

Oh yeah, it's gluten free grilled cheese!

On that note, these are the sounds in our neighborhood on this Spring, March day.

Happy Spring!!