Spring is teasing us here in the southern piedmont of North Carolina. February is the month when our daffodils pop out of the ground and remind us that spring is coming.

As usual, though, winter is reluctant to give up its grip. The last two weeks of February this year brought us a record-breaking one-day foot of snow and two record-breaking high temperatures in the high 70s.

The day the first daffodils bloom is perhaps my favorite day of the year. That’s how much I don’t like winter!

Among my earliest memories is watching in February for that first daffodil blossom, running back into the house for a pair of scissors, and going back out into the yard to cut that flower.

I would take it in the house and my mother would share in my excitement as she reached in the kitchen cabinet for a little vase. We would put that vase and its precious flower in the center of the kitchen table to be enjoyed for days as more daffodils opened and joined it in a larger vase.

It was nearly 80 degrees here on Thursday and Friday. Today’s predicted high is 46 degrees.

This is what we expect in February and March. The electric blanket won’t come off my bed and be put away until mid-May. Just in case!

Janet

P.S. The U.S. President’s State of the Union Address is scheduled for tonight. I have not yet decided if I can bear to watch it. The sitting President does not command my attention or respect; however, a part of me believes I should watch it so I will know what he says. It will anger me, but I suppose I will watch it as a concerned citizen.

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.