get a whiff of that hope in the air

This was the view out our front door Wednesday morning.

This was the view out our back door.

Roameo gave it a lot of thought before deciding not to venture out.

These are our kayaks.  I bet the first one l bought regrets trying to kill me now.

The pond was nearly frozen over, but the ducks found some frolic room.

The snow on the woodsheds tested their sturdiness.

The steeper pitch on the roof of the old chicken coop helped it clean itself off.

The elevated beehives were okay, but the solar panels nearly disappeared.

I took these shots about 9 am.  Shortly after that, a storm blustered in through the

southeast gap of the valley.  The winds were so strong that the rain sometimes fell

at a 45 degree angle.  I went outside to soak it in and a wondrous thing happened.

Not spectacular, not miraculous, and certainly not apocalyptic — but a good solid

wondrous.

There was warmth in the wind.  It had been gone so long that I first sensed it as

“not as cold as usual”.  But a fresh gust didn’t chill me to the middle of my marrow,

so I upgraded my findings.  This outranks robins and baseball as a harbinger of

spring.  I took a cartoonishly deep breath and swelled with oxygen and hope.

That hope held the next day.  I had two doctor’s appointments.  One of them gave

me spectacular news.  That’s tomorrow’s post.  And on the ferry ride home, Jude

and I saw a rainbow.  All this, and March Madness starts soon.