On Getting Your Money Back

When my youngest granddaughter was about 4, I used to take her for a walk around the block about this time of year on the annual 'Signs of Spring' tour.  She lives in southern Missouri, and there was always something you could find that would suggest an end to winter.  Back in the Pacific Northwest, though, I could always count on crocuses (or is it croci?).  In the twenty years we've been up in this area, I have always been able to see our crocuses, or at least a few of them, in bloom by Valentine's Day.  The first time I saw them, I was astounded: crocuses in February?  But there they have been, year after year.

But not this year.  The picture above is the closest I've got to a blooming crocus.  It's trying to bloom, certainly, but it has the problem of still being trapped down at the bottom of the leaf bundle.  The leaves, apparently, know better about whether things are looking good for signs of spring and the emergence of crocus buds.

So, dear Lydia, if you were here, we would have to credit this with being a sign of spring, but a very weak one.  Perhaps we could ask for our money back?

(Side Note:  I know local people who have crocuses blooming already, but my point is that MY crocuses have always bloomed by now.  And my crocuses are definitely not blooming now.)