That’s what Punxsutawney Phil said anyway. I say 6 weeks and 4 days, since the official first day of spring (the vernal equinox) is March 20th. In early March after we’ve had a few pleasant days and folks start remarking that “spring is here” I’m always the first one to chime in and remind them that winter (i.e., cold, snow, nor’easters, etc.) is not over yet. In fact, sometimes it refuses to go away even after the official first day…
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day. It’s worth acknowledging all the positive changes that have been enacted over the last 50 years – the enacting the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act, endangered species like the bald eagle have rebounded from the brink of extinction, rivers are no longer on fire and don’t run the color of whatever the upstream dye factory happens to be producing on a given day, and renewable energy options…
It’s only February, but already signs of spring are emerging. The red-winged blackbirds are calling in the marsh, I saw a honeybee on Saturday pollinating the crocuses in my yard, and the skunk cabbage are flowering in forested wetland areas. Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) flowers, and the structures that surround them, are fairly strange looking as far as flowers go. The outer sheath, called a spathe, is purplish with yellow-green streaks and is roughly teardrop-shaped with an opening where the…