Harbinger?

Noticed this morning -- the snowbanks melt back from the house, probably indicating a heat-loss problem and wasted irreplaceable petroleum resources, but the place _is_ about 150 years old. But anyway, a gap forms betwixt snow and foundation. In that gap, a whole foot wide this morning, I saw clear and distinct crocus leaves poking through last fall's leaf litter. No visible flower bud yet, but waiting is.

Hope springs eternal and all that.

Virtue rewarded

Yes, I know that there are cynics in the audience who will question how that title can relate to this author....

But persistence (or pure bloody-minded obstinacy) led me to Mr. Paperback out at the Airport Mall, where the management has the common civility to still shelve the April issue of FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION ("Display until March 28" over the bar-code on the cover). Thus I have a print issue of that lovely, lovely de Lint review for the literary archives. My heirs and assigns will, no doubt, treasure it for generations as I treasure the reviews of my grandmother's performance as Katisha in THE MIKADO.