First Signs of Spring

Today I woke up with the inside of my head feeling foggy. Looking out of my windows there was fog outside too. And still -8°C on the thermometer at around 8 o'clock in the morning. We have been having some very cold nights again; and in spite of rain last week, and sunshine over the last few days, winter is still keeping us in its grip.

This has been quite a busy week. I heard there is something called Post Busy Itis going around.[ ;)] Since my sort of Busy can hardly quite be compared to either Heather's kind or GB's, I'm not sure that my Post-Itis can either. Maybe we all have our own kind?

Anyway, after two months of not much going on at all except the daily struggle with the winter weather, I managed to squeeze in no less than two "cultural events" in the same week. With Photography and Blogging Responsibilities, that also generates quite a lot of Afterwork! (And after that, the Post-Itis.) The first cultural Event was of course my visit to the art exhibition on Thursday, resulting in no less than three blog posts (scroll down, or see Blog Archive). And before I even had time to finish those, there was another Event yesterday, when our Town Hall celebrated its 100th anniversary with an Open House.
I'll be getting back to that, with pictures, another day.

But aside from that, yesterday was also the first day I felt that in spite of all the ice and snow still attacking us both from below and above (making our feet slip, and threatening to fall down on our heads from the roofs at the same time) - spring IS on its way!

My balcony faces south-west, and yesterday - ta-daa! - it was completely snow free! So I finally had a chance to take down the Christmas (!) lights that have been decorating the railing ever since late November! Moreover, I took the opportunity to give the balcony floor a wash, and then took out my "camping chair", and just SAT for nearly an hour in the sun. Well wrapped up, but still. There's nothing like the FIRST time, after a long, long winter...

I also, with great curiosity, took a close look at the shrivelled remains of my clematis plant. There couldn't possibly still be any life left in those delicate stems after a winter such as this, could there? Well... actually... maybe...???!

At least a few houseleeks have evidently survived, although they weren't even covered (except by snow). But then I notice, looking them up in Wikipedia, that in English they're also called Liveforever (Sempervivum)!