Thankful Thursday

Thaw has come. It is the hardest season of all the seasons of the Northwoods. During the day the air is warm and just crisp enough you want to dust off the bicycle or go outside and do *anything*. But at night the temps drop again, turning any melt into ice and all smooth surfaces into hazards. 

Our back yard, which we had plowed as parking, has turned into a wet sponge of mud. This morning the deer prints across the yard showed signs of slips and near falls. Because it is behind the house and downhill all the snow melt from the front yard is surfacing there. It's been wet for days now. But the side yard in the woods is clearing and the ground is fairly dry.

This morning after returning home from dropping D off at work I pointed out to Fi that a path to her hammock was accessible again. She immediately tip toed and then ran in her snow boots to the open ground and plunked into what I'm sure is a wet hammock. A chipmunk even came out of the pile of old wood and ran up to see what was going on. 

I've seen spring many times before but spring here really feels epic. Like all the promises that winter can't last are finally coming true.