Last Monday morning I watched as the rising sun touched a few pieces of ice covered stove wood.
When the sunlight fell on the logs and was magnified by the clear ice, they blazed with flameless fire. 
But none of that now-by Friday the early morning sky looked like milk, and had no fire.
Last weekend, I admired the petals of Vernal Witch Hazel fluttering in the breeze.
Not this weekend. Witch Hazel petals will no doubt stay tucked away until another warm, sunny day.
For nearly all of this winter animals walked over the sandy river banks at night. 
Now they seek out patches of dry ground under spruces. 
Nature has toyed with us this year, but spring has started and it isn’t likely to stop now.
This was taken a week or so ago, so It shouldn’t be too long before the daffodils are blooming.
I hope all of you and yours are well after the recent severe weather outbreaks. Thanks for visiting.
Fantastic photos- the colors on the icy logs in the sun were awesome!
Thank you. You know how it is-just happened to be in the right place at the right time that day. Glad you liked them.
I have seen witch hazel blooms in the fall. Do they persist through the winter, or have a separate blooming in the spring?
Fall /early winter bloomers are the native Hamamelis virginiana, and late winter / spring bloomers are also native Hamamelis vernalis or Vernal witch hazel. Many hybrids have been developed from these two species and there are also Japanese and Chinese witch hazels.
Cool. So I have H. virginiana in my woods. I’ll have to look for H. vernalis.
Though vernal witch hazel is hardy to zone 3 and the two species overlap, it is more likely you’ll find vernal witch hazel in the woods of more southern regions. The one I found had been planted. The Japanese and Chinese plants also bloom in spring, but later than vernal witch hazel. They are also likely to have larger, showier flowers in yellow, orange, or red.
Happy to have found your blog. I live in New Hampshire as well and just posted photos of living in black and white thanks to this snowstorm. Hopefully the snow will melt soon and our bulbs will start to bloom.
Welcome. I don’t get to talk to many New Hampshire bloggers, so it’s always a good surprise. I just visited you blog and liked what I saw. I’ll be a return visitor!
Thanks, I’ll returning to yours as I love gardening…flower and vegetables at our summer cottage in Maine.
Great post! There will be a few more battles in the yearly war between winter and spring, good thing that spring always wins!
Thanks. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more snow but I hope not. Every year at this time I start to crave spring, no matter how severe winter has been. It comes from years of having my hands in the dirt, I suppose.
They say 75 tornadoes in the last two days in the surrounding area. Incredible devastation to many towns and small cities. We drove through southern Indiana yesterday as it ends up only hours ahead of some of these tornadoes. The other route we could have taken also had golf ball size hail covering the interstate. We spent some time in our sons basement due to warnings her in Louisville, lucked out and missed the nasty stuff. The lightning was dancing around in the clouds of these storm cells.The temperature rose to the 70’s ahead of the storm cells. Supposed to drop into the upper 30’s by morning. Wild powerful localized storms with sun on either side.
Yes, I’ve seen the aftermath on the news and it’s terrible. I can’t imagine living with that kind of destruction always a threat. Glad you made it through unscathed and I hope these storms will calm down and leave you alone now. I also have an old friend in Indianapolis, but I haven’t heard any bad reports from there.