Photo A Day, Day 5: Not Mine

With the beautiful, warm weather we’ve had most of this past week, my kids and I spent as much time outside as we could. We had a picnic on the porch, they rode their bike and trike, we went to the playground, and we did one of my favorite spring traditions: we took a walk through the neighborhood looking for signs of spring.

Our yard is not particularly sunny, and I am not much of a gardener, so there aren’t many signs of spring in our own yard. I don’t have any bulbs that bloom this early, no snowdrops or crocuses, and my dwarf irises have barely peeped their little green noses through last year’s mulch. The best we can do is listen for lovesick chickadees and cardinals high up in the trees, and catch an occasional glimpse of the robin who likes to attack his reflection in the side mirror of my husband’s car. But I have neighbors whose yards have started to remind me that spring is truly on its way.

One of the first peeps of green we saw on our walk was this clump of white and purple crocuses shooting up through a few of last fall’s leaves. You can practically see them reaching towards the sunshine and straining to burst open and show their fuzzy gold hearts. Thanks to my neighbors, I can be reassured that spring is coming, courtesy of their beautiful flowers, even though they’re not mine.