Little by little, spring is creeping in.

We had a glorious weekend, weather-wise, and visited friends & had friends visit us, so it was great socially as well. Much rain and sun meant some flooding on Saturday, but it was a complete surprise to return Sunday evening to find the first of the flowerbeds out from under the snow, with exciting green sprigs appearing - muscari, narcissi, and even some of the perennials are peeping up. No sign of the new bulbs yet, but the bed at the corner of the house is almost bare, so there may be shoots soon.
Because of all of the snow cover, we will probably see lots of mice damage - already I spotted a rose which has had all its bark gnawed off. It's not well-protected with spines on the stems (like the Rugosa hybrids) so it was probably a lovely snack. I am hopeful that it will come back from the roots - they often get pruned pretty severely. Fingers crossed.

Because I was away from home, I didn't get the second Sock Madness pattern until Sunday. I got the cuff on the first one done last night (late, as we had some friends over to play music in the evening). It's a colourwork sock, and I usually find them quite fast, so I hope to have some progress to show soon. My version is in dark green and off-white. The pattern is Tokena, based on Maori basketwork, apparently.

About 7 pm, we were outside and there was a huge flight of Canada geese - we think there were literally hundreds. They all landed by the Creek, making a LOT of noise. I took pictures, but they were very far away in order to take in the vast numbers. Inspiring anyway, as well as spring-like. I don't think I've ever seen so many as I have this year.

On Sunday we visited the "hydrogen village", which is really a plant to make hydrogen from wind power (to allow the power to be stored for the future, thus evening out the load). It's being built in North Cape, and we have photos, but it's "technical. Pretty though".* Well, not pretty but really interesting!

*Homage to Local Hero, the best movie EVER.