And so it begins. In almost all places in New England spring emerges as April comes to a close. The degree and intensity varies. I’m sure the hills of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are still draped in snow bank. But even these will feel the gentle stir of thaw on one of these unusually warm early spring days. Speaking of degrees…temperatures were in the eighties today…too warm for April but enjoyable nonetheless. A day spent getting the gardens ready. (more…)

Whether March will leave like a lamb is yet to be seen; but the fact that it arrived with something of a roar this year is beyond question. The first weekend of March in southern New England brought spring-like temperatures reaching nearly sixty degrees across an unsettled weather system that quickly transformed, with a typically cosmic sense of humor, to one of the year’s biggest storms. It carried across its broad leonine shoulders almost a foot of snow in some locales, cancelling school and most other activities that involved the movement of human beings and vehicles across the landscape; putting our thoughts of spring on the back burner. (more…)