still too early

i went to my parents' on the weekend, and we went to their little 'cottage' in arcalia as usual.they said last week there was still a lot of snow on the ground, but they expected it would be mostly gone, because the weather had been so good lately. my mum was particularly optimistic, she hoped to find snowdrops in the woods. i mean, considering she already found one flower in her flowerbeds...

but it might be too early for spring flowers. although, look, there are buds on our little trees as well:

so i went with my mum up the hill above our cottage. and while we found no snowdrops , these are a few of the tiny things that we found:

1.very photogenic mushrooms. the non-edible kind, of course.

2.colorful little feathers. my mum pities the bird to whom this happened, and she hopes the bird got out alive and is currently finding food somewhere instead of being food.

 

3. the closest we got to the deer that are apparently grazing all over the woods.

this is what it looks like, going uphill. the day was wonderful, probably 10 degrees C.

these roots are pretty amazing, aren't they! they remind me of some old wattle fences that we still had in the village when i was little

this is the plateau on top of the hill. no snowdrops and no deer!!:((

a view of our little 'house' among the branches (it's the one closest to the edge of the park). not very spectacular, but  i'm glad i caught the river too

and this is the way down...no path!

the birds were singing like crazy. so my mum starts whistling at them and they quickly pick it up and reply!
carmen: "those birds think you're going to make a nest and babies with them now! you're deluding them with false promises!"

in the meantime, my father was trimming the fruit trees and piling more snow at their roots.

and this is while waiting to leave, lying on the pillows my mum brought from grandma's. well, not really lying on them cause they're more for show off, right?

on the one hand, i can't believe it's almost spring and we're waiting for the flowers - it's barely been winter at all! on the other hand, even through the not-very-low temperatures, and even in spite of not having to wake up and go to work in dreadful frozen greyness every morning, it's been winter, and i can't wait for it to be gone.
i love 4 season climate for the freshness of change/surprise. it's always worth it. now it's still keeping us on our toes, will it be a wet spring? will there be a spring at all, or just a startling delivery into the too hot days that have me mumble non-stop "we're gonna die! it's too late, we're gonna die!" ?? anyway: i've opened my windows wide this morning and i've been sliding around on the floor in my socks, humming silly songs. there are birds chirping down in the trees here too.