Little sprouts

Spring is here, sort of. The high temps in the teens (Celsius) we were promised for this week haven't materialised, but the days have been consistently above freezing. It's hard to notice, however, what with the gray skies and bitter winds. Huge piles of nivée are still heaped up everywhere and hardly seem to be shrinking. The muddy puddles on the ground near them seem to be due to this morning's rain rather than any melting.

But I'm able to add kitchen scraps to the composter with confidence again. And shoots are sprouting up. I first saw daffodils emerging a week ago, before the last dusting of snow, and worried they'd be frozen out. They seem to have survived, though a little frostbitten. A coworker tipped me off to the presence of winter aconite and I tramped all around looking for it. Naturally I found it in the most sheltered spot here: a south-facing sunken garden. And I had to tramp over a bar of snowice to reach it. There are snowdrops there, too, also in full bud. A few more mild days, and they should all be in bloom.

Tomorrow evening we have the condo meeting I've been dreading for months. Beforehand, though, we're heading over to Massouleh to celebrate Nowruz. That should perk me up, even if it is grey and cold again.