Sure, there’s snow, and some Saskatoon buds are closed tightly…

… but others are not. The one below is on the same bush, but out in the sun, and hormonally a little more charged from hanging down. It’s cracked open just a little at the tip.

Already, a chemical message is on its way to the root linked to it. Perhaps it has already arrived and the root has already started feeding microbes at its tip. Spring can’t be delayed now. We’ll see it in a couple months, but it began today. For such a process, perhaps “spring” is the wrong word. Perhaps “Readiness”. Whatever it is, though, it’s not winter. Not anymore.