Spring is coming this week!

The Easter Bunny Says Welcome Spring!

Spring is here already on the Witch’s Island and all the snowmen had to go! Well actually it isn’t truly here until March 20th but I’ve decided that the house needed a spring up-date, RIGHT NOW!! I love to decorate for the seasons and this one is another favorite of mine. Well, okay, they’re all my favourites for different reasons. So the snowmen are all packed away and look what has taken their places. There are bunnies and flowers everywhere! Hubby brought me a beautiful bunch of tulips and they have been displayed in the centre of the coffee to help set the mood.

Two dozen Tulips barely fit in my vase.

A close-up of my Tulips.

This little Easter Bunny figurine is pulling his cart around looking for eggs.

This Easter Bunny is apparently hiding the eggs from the guy with the cart.

This guy looks sweet and innocent but he turns mean when his bowl is full of treats. Watch your fingers!

All Ears stays on the kitchen counter as long as possible.

Man, that is either one giant carrot or two tiny bunnies.

This bunny is on the back of the front door and welcomes us back to the outside world after a long hard winter.

A close-up of the front door bunny.

The All-In-A-Row wall hanging is from Country Feelin'. It has multiple sets of pieces to change back and forth for the seasons and, if you're interested, you can see some of them here. This is a set that Hubby and I made a few years ago.

My spring set for All-In-A-Row.

Spring is also the time that we start to see more wildlife around the Witch’s Island. Last week we saw four foxes in the field just on our way to work. We had an interesting visitor to the backyard, too. We took some fast fry steaks out of the freezer early in the week previous and then for some reason we just didn’t get around to cooking them (shame, shame, shame). After a week in the fridge they were too old to eat so Hubby tossed them out onto the snow for the crows. The crows found them almost right away but so did this Bald Eagle.

The eagle was very nervous about being on the ground in the yard and the slightest movement from us at the windows of the house was enough to send him scurrying up into the treetops. The crows didn’t care though and might have even have appreciated the scaredy-cat behavior of the big bird. They worked as a team bullying the eagle and grabbing as much meat as possible. In the end I’m not sure that the eagle actually got any of the steak but it sure was impressive to watch him flying through the yard. Sorry for the poor qualities of the pictures but these birds are fast and he was a long way away when he was in the trees.

This Bald Eagle apparently loves fast-fry steak, especially when it is free.

He may love steak but not enough to fight the crows for it.

Another nice thing about spring is the smell. You know that damp earthy smell that tells you that the soil is no longer frozen as hard as bullets? Sometimes spring is the smell of skunk or the sign of raccoons walking across the remains of the snow. Sometimes it is the first time that you are able to hang a load of laundry out on the line without it freezing into chunks of plywood. Don’t let the fine weather make you forget about your clothesline etiquette, though. You can’t just hang things out willy-nilly. What will the neighbors think? People are watching, don’t you know.

It is also the sight of the first of your perennials poking through the soil, even if they are being paced by the dandelions and other weeds, or the first time you spot the soil of your vegetable garden poking through the scrum of the snow. A week ago we thought that it would be June before the garden was exposed but it is now visible and getting more so every day.

The dandelions are on the way back, too.

Look! That seems to be garden soil poking out from under the snow.

Unfortunately, Herbie, our garden mascot, didn’t make it to spring. The combination of the violent nature of the fall storms and the miserable conditions of the past winter conspired to rip his poor old head off. He was retired from his post this afternoon. Poor Herbie.

Poor Herbie seems to have lost his head.

Enjoy the pictures and close your eyes. I think you may even smell the signs of spring in the air. Yup, it is just around the corner.