Now that it seems the snows are slowly starting to melt...slowly...the robins have returned and the sparrows are cleaning out the birdhouses. My backyard birdfeeding area is no longer incased in a wall of ice that had formed from the peaks of the pergola above the back gate. It was beautiful during the winter but I am tired of the below zero temperatures...this certainly has been a winter.
 It's time to start working on new bottle designs, lots of spring colors and textures, flowers, birds, and, of course...bling!  With spring brings gardening, cleaning up after the muck of winter giving way to the crocus's and wood hyacinths, then the tulips and daffodils and the return of my bluebirds to the back acres.   It will be interesting to see if my Bewick wrens will nest in the house hanging by the back door again this year....they are such chatterboxes!!!  And my pair of crested nuthatches....'yank yank yanking' up and down the trees.  I am sooo ready for spring and to beable to sit outside and paint on the patio!