No Daffodils or Bluebirds but...

My husband was gone all of last week on a business trip to Chicago, and he took our camera with him.  So I haven't posted any photos for a while because I had no camera here.  He came home over the weekend though and so did the camera.

Here are a couple of pictures that he took while he was gone.  These were the views from his hotel window.

He was there to attend the Spring Conference of the National Association of School Psychologists.  I suppose since it was the "Spring" conference that that makes it a sign of spring, right?

We have had lovely weather the last four days in a row.  The sun was shining.  The skies were blue.  The temperature made it into the forties over the weekend, and today it made it up to 56 degrees.  I am thrilled that we are finally starting to edge toward spring.

I went for a walk in the park on Sunday and took the camera with me.  I found some more signs of spring for you...well...I sort of found some signs of spring for you.  I didn't find any bluebirds or daffodils, but here are some pictures of what I did find.

We have a lot less snow now than we had last week.  Melting snow is a sign of spring.

We have lots of puddles too--not ice, not snow!  Puddles are definitely a sign of spring.

We have lots of mud now too.  Mud means the ground isn't frozen anymore.

There are lots of dog paw prints in the mud too!  That means it is warm enough that more people are out taking long walks with their dogs instead of a quick turn in the yard or perhaps around the block.

If you look closely, you can see some green showing here in these ground cover plants.

And one of my favorite signs of spring---the buzzards are back roosting in the branches of the tallest  trees in the park.

I like this sign of spring too---dead snowmen body parts strewn across someone's lawn. Bye bye, Frosty!  You're not such a jolly, happy soul now, are you?!

Someone was outside working on their car.  Did you hear that?  They were OUTSIDE working on their car, not inside of a heated garage. 

I also saw someone outside cooking on a grill.  I kid you not.  Of course, they were wearing a winter coat and hat and gloves and there was still snow in their yards.  They looked ridiculous, but they were out there flipping burgers on the grill anyway.  Who needs summer to have a cookout, after all?  I didn't take their picture because I couldn't do it without being very obvious about it.  HA!

This is what the sunset looked like.  Not as spectacular as many I have seen, but it is significant in another way.  It has been coming a little later in the day each day.  Daylight hours are lasting longer.  That is definitely a sign of spring!

Then we had another sign of spring this morning.  My son's school was delayed in starting for two hours, not for snow or ice on the roads, but for fog.  That is also a sign of spring.  The fog was starting to lift by the time I took this picture.  It was much worse earlier, and, of course, it is always worse out in the county than it is here in town.

Very soon we will be seeing the return of the robins and other songbirds, and we will have daffodils and crocuses and hyacinths. For now, I am quite pleased that we have buzzards and mud.  Spring will be here soon.