When I first started writing this it was decidedly winter out there, the snow was softly falling, and the air cold. But the end of February brought us a week of warmer weather, and March 1st proved one of those glorious early spring days. Here in Essex a light rain fell for most of the morning, giving way to a warm, late afternoon sun. The snow is rapidly disappearing everywhere we look, only the shady nooks and spots where it was piled in heaps remain. Walking through my gardens on the 1st, I did the only sensible thing to do in an early spring thaw, I found a bit of warmed earth and put my hands in, feeling the wet soil and smelling the earthy musk. Stooping here and there, examining the garden, looking for life, I push leaves aside and shift the heavy mulch, revealing the tiny spear tips of daffodils and crocus just poking up through the crust. Snow drops are popping up under the Hazels, just coming up in places, delicately slender, and in others just coming into bloom.