Where I come from they call them daffodils, ‘Round here these yellow harbingers of spring are commonly know as buttercups.
There’s a saying, too, “It always snows on the buttercups.”
But it didn’t look like that was going to happen this year. We’ve had a mild winter, with barely a trace of the white stuff all December through February. So over the last couple of weeks, as the bulbs pushing through started to lend a little color to the brown winter lawn, it seemed this year might live down that bit of weather lore.
Then yesterday, with March a full week old, and the buttercups in full bloom a storm took shape out west, driven by a cold blast to remind us we’re still two weeks shy of spring. Some time after midnight the snow started falling, giving us the first real snow of the year. By sunrise, the yardstick showed two inches out back of the house, and it kept snowing well into the morning.
As so often here, the storm was quickly followed by clearing skies and gradually rising temperatures. It’s late afternoon now. The icy roads are gone. The melting snow drips steadily off the roof. It’s already disappeared from all the hills facing South, leaving them a brighter green. This time tomorrow it will all be gone.
Spring can’t be too far off, the maples are in bloom, and we can leave winter behind, now that it’s snowed on the buttercups.
