Tis a month before the month of May,
And the Spring comes slowly up this way.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Spring in Colorado!!  When I found Mom’s email on Thursday morning with that subject line, I was certain the photos attached would be of her garden–tulips and daffodils and hyacinths, all in full bloom.  Instead, this . . .

Photo Credit: J. Nixon

Winter is slow to retreat here in the Rocky Mountains.  I live 350 miles south of Mom near the bottom of the 3000-mile long range.  On the same day I received her email I was bombarded with a flurry of snow pellets when I stopped, on my way to the mailbox, to admire a forsythia shrub bristling with yellow flowers.

Spring is making inroads each day; a black-billed magpie (Pica hudsonia) has been hanging out at the bird bath in my backyard. I’ve scanned the still-bare trees looking for a pile of sticks that could mean she has nested nearby, but have yet to find a sign.  Inside, the Siamese cat sits near the fireplace, head cocked, listening.  I strain my ears to hear what she hears and wonder if the birds have built a nest near the chimney.

By the time I talked to Mom late Thursday afternoon, most of the snow had melted and she said the crabapple tree in her photo was covered with buds and would soon be full of pink flowers..