When Cometh Spring?

After our hard winter, I've changed the poetic: "Whence cometh spring?" to "When cometh spring?" This week we had a hopeful sign: an "onion snow".  According to the locals here in Pennsylvania Dutch country, an "onion snow" is a light snow which melts quickly and arrives just prior to the planting of onions. Such a dusting portends the arrival of spring.

Furthermore, local legend insists that three types of snow must arrive before spring can appear: a "sapling-bender" which is a wet, heavy snow that weighs down boughs; a "crack-stuffer" which is a dry, fine-grained snow that settles in cracks in the earth, and an "onion snow."  

In February, we certainly had the sapling-bender. 

Photo by Cindy Hummel, Lancaster Online

Then this week's snow was dry and fine-grained, 

arriving just before the farmer's wife across the river planted her onions.

The spade in the garden indicates her intention to begin spring planting.

I'd say its high time for spring!  

Here are six sure signs in the neighborhood.

The farmers are spreading liquid brown fertilizer--complete with complimentary odors.

Forsythia stems are showing a hint of yellow.

The red Japanese maple has taken on a rosy hue.

Buds are sprouting on our deciduous trees.

Birds have been refreshing their nests.

And, my crocuses and tulips are peaking out of the ground. 

God set the sun and moon in the sky to determine the seasons. So as long as they shine, spring will follow winter; it's inevitable. I don't know about you, but this year I'm praying He brings it sooner rather than later!