An Early Sign of Spring

Winter in these parts is pretty mild compared to the seventeen years I lived in Maine, where the standing joke was: "We have two seasons in the State of Maine - winter, and last winter!" But even so, winter is still winter, and yesterday, I saw an early - way too early, I think - sign that spring is coming.

It was during my nine mile half marathon training run. As we ran up Libbie, a tiny splash of color in the strip of grass between the sidewalk and street caught my eye. I stopped and bent over to look at it. Yep, it was single frail little crocus, a light purple color, in bloom by the road. A crocus? On January 28? Way too early, even for here. But it is a sign that spring, which usually starts here in late February, is coming.