Fé sholas na gréine

Another dusting of snow last night which didn't even make it to midday. It was lovely in the morning, though, although blinding in the full sunlight. This has been not only the mildest winter I can recall but the sunniest as well, something particularly noticeable this past February. I tend to think of it as the cloudiest month in Chicago even though cumulative statistics show that December is worse (46% sunshine vs 39%), but last year it featured nineteen straight days without a single sunbeam. I'm not sure what the figures were for this year, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to find the exact reverse.

Snowdrops have already been blooming for two weeks in various spots on campus; winter aconite has been out almost as long. Daffodils, tulips, and even irises are sprouting in the sunniest south-facing beds and I really wonder what their fate is going to be. Dad tells me that he already has hyacinths and "Easter roses" (by which he presumably means Kerria japonica). He has a flowering dogwood all dug out and ready to transport up here next time he gets the chance; I just hope it doesn't start blossoming before that happens.