Here on the west coast of Canada, we have had a long and wet winter...grey, dull days with the occasionaly sunny one..Australia has had a summer of monsoon rains and now a cyclone..eastern Canada and the Maritimes have been hit with snow storms and blizzards...midwest USA and the eastern seaboard have had their share of cold and blowing snow....Where or where is Spring?? When I was a young mother living in the Prairies, in February, after a long, cold winter, I would buy a single hyacinth to fill the house with the crisp, earthy smells of spring..which sometimes wouldn't arrive till May/June... I procrastinated this fall and it wasn't till November that I decided to cool some bulbs in my mini-fridge..to force bulbs..the intention was for Christmas..However, today the first of 6 white hyacinth bulb has opened... my spring longing has been slightly appeased with the first scent of spring....Is winter harder to complete as you get older? or is it the memory of the smells and sights of Spring live deep in our spirit?? Wherever you live may Spring arrive soon !!!!!!!