Downy Woodpecker

Linking with Wild Bird Wednesday

and Saturday's Critters

Shadows

Monday was Groundhog's Day, and the weather here was balmy and beautiful. The woodchuck could certainly have seen his shadow, had he been up, but unlike those people in Punxsutawney, we chose to let him sleep.

There are plenty of other creatures around here who are awake already. The Flicker, wearing a heart on her back, cast a shadow, but she was more interested in the dogwood berries she was mining from the grass. Yum!

The day was sunny enough; the red squirrel would have noticed her shadow if she'd been looking in the right direction, but looking for nuts and watching her back were far more important.

It's a silly tradition, after all, one we've heard since grade school, that if a groundhog sees its shadow that day, there will be six more weeks of winter. But it speaks to our longing for spring, and the warmth and light that come with it. I have a bit of a conflict this year, because the only snow we've seen so far sprinkled over the ground like powdered sugar on a Weight Watcher's cake. And I love snow.

Snowdrops are blooming, and those small white blossoms are always a welcome sight, reminding us that no matter how long it takes for spring to get here, it will surely arrive. They call to mind the promise God made long ago:

As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest, 

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night

will never cease.

Genesis 8:22

Linking with Wild Bird Wednesday

and Saturday's Critters

Winter's Palette

When winter arrives

Colors escape to the sky

And leave the earth bare

They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;

You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.

Psalm 65:8

Linking with Skywatch Friday