We're kind of back to "spring" mode.  It's been beautiful today with lots of sunshine and temperature around freezing.  There has been a bit of a cold wind, but still, the sunshine has been really nice after all that cold.

How cold was it?  So cold the pussy willows by our mailbox closed up.  They were out before the snowstorm, but I haven't seen anything of them since.  I'm not sure what the low was last night, but I heard from Pam Hebert, in Tuscon, who had spoken with Dennis at the post office in West Danville today it was zero in West Danville.  Pam said it was 94 in Tuscon.  Andy Rudin said all his spring flowers that were blooming last week in Philadelphia are under several inches of snow.  But the signs of spring are around - the sap will begin to run again now with warm days and cold nights; there are a few more birds moving about - I am seeing and hearing more crows, and soon there will be geese and ducks returning, looking for open water.  If they fly over Joe's Pond in the next few weeks they'll be disappointed.  Our ice isn't going to melt right away with two feet of snow insulating it.

I'll be checking in with "Three Ponds" this week to see how they are progressing towards opening.  There are lots of people anxiously awaiting their opening - people have missed the old Joe's Pond Country Store as a place to congregate in the morning, and Three Ponds will be open for breakfast and lunch.  Someone said they keep looking for a "coming soon" sign or something to let people know who they are - lots of folks still don't know that Lynda Markison and her son, Caleb Clark, are opening a restaurant in the newly renovated building - opening later this month, they hope. No word yet about what business might open in the north end of the building.  Nice space - someone will surely want it.