Spring is COMING!!!!

We have been finding so many ladybugs in our house over the last few days! I'm not sure where they're coming from, but it seems to me that they're heralding Spring.

We have occasionally been outside without coats and sweaters the last week. It is delicious to open the windows and hang the sheets on the washline to dry. Today, it is pretty stinkin' cold, though, and we are in the process of lighting the woodstove. I LOVE woodstove heat. So cozy.

I am finding the imminent arrival of Spring creating a bit of panic in me...happy panic, but panic, nonetheless. So much to do in the yard!

I am trying to plan out the garden and have it all arranged and worked out before I stick one seed in the ground. I am trying a few new veggies this year. Kidney beans. Pickling cukes. Cilantro (okay, this one isn't new, but I have a HECK of a time growing it, so it would be new if it actually grew!) Delicata squash....and more that I just can't seem to remember at this fine moment.

Liv and Briar have decorated and furnished the bean tepee now. The interior of the tepee is dominated by a table (our chopping block for firewood). There is a piece of bark for the welcome mat and some twigs that I pruned from the garden as a fire. Oyster shells as used as dishes and a plant saucer is a sink! Rocks are used as stools and a garden gnome is the greeter at the door. It reminds me of when we were little, we used to make 'bunny houses' in the woods and use what ever we could find as furnishing. SO fun and imaginative!