I know the calendar says it's January, but the forest says it's officially spring!
I rooted around in the leaf litter today, and lo, I found a solitary hepatica in *bloom*. I never did find another one that was even thinking about sending up a flower stalk, but it won't be long.
First the hepatica, then the bloodroot, then myriad things will hit at once in a mad race to bloom and copulate before the canopy overhead blocks out the light. Then the leaves will unfurl, the trees will bloom, and the world will be *green* again.
Wonderful days ahead!