What a boost to soak up the rays of the still-faint late-winter sun, to hear the wind chimes clang in the unaccustomedly warm breeze. It was just a taste of what's to come, but it broke a deadlock of sorts.
Winter has less of a hold on us now. We may still have cold rain, chill wind, freezing temperatures. But the witch hazel tree, responding to yesterday's prompts, has burst into bloom. It's the earliest harbinger of spring in our yard, and I'm glad for its vivid evidence that yesterday was not a dream.
(The witch hazel tree photographed in an earlier, snowier winter)