I just watched some coverage of the latest winter storm to hit the upper Midwest. I’m grateful to live here after seeing the blizzard report. I still cannot get used to the naming of winter storms. We are already at Wesley this year which is quite a way through the alphabet. It is odd that we did not have even one of any significance.

Never mind! Let’s talk spring. There is so much new life happening I do not know where to begin.

Hyacinths are blooming at the MV Savings Bank in Vineyard Haven. There is a lone dandelion blooming right in the parking lot in a crack in the cement next to the curbstone.

At the end of the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road on the State Road and Look street intersection there are a number of blooming pushkinia. They may also be known as early snow glories. Often I confuse them with scilla. I may actually not even know what I’m talking about. They could, in fact, all be extended family members.

They are a nice follow-up to snowdrops which seem to have faded away for yet another year. Sigh.

My early crocuses are also, sadly, gone but the main crop of giants have begun blooming. I noticed some honey bees buzzing around them over the warm weekend.

The down-Island Cronig’s parking lot is looking mighty tidy. The ornamental grasses are cut and the sedum is up enough to be recognizable by all.

The inkberry hedge along State Road is well-pruned so that it does its job of hiding cars in the parking lot. I always appreciate Steve Bernier out there picking up trash. The place is cared for unlike the poor V.H. P.O.

My friend Sharlee called to report. Her braided soft-neck garlic from last year’s harvest was hanging on her kitchen wall. It has sprouted and some of the green shoots are several inches long. Oh! the potential of life...

Speaking of which: my granddaughter Violet is taking a hydroponics section of her aquaculture class at Tabor Academy. They started micro greens in recycled to-go containers. She put a piece of felt on the bottom and has been spritzing daily with plain water.

Her instructor told her that the seed did not need to be fertilized as there were enough nutrients stored inside to feed the plant for three weeks. At that time they would be cut for a salad.

The students were impressed that they could grow food in their dorm windows. I finally planted some onions outside. I had started them mid-February in the greenhouse. They have experienced a few frosts and have been hardened off in a sheltered location. They are tiny but I’ve had great success in growing them from seed and it is certainly more economical than purchasing either plants or sets.

I hope we eventually find out what is in the Mueller report. Can you even imagine the brouhaha if Eric Holder withheld possible damaging information about Barack Obama from Paul Ryan’s House of Representatives?

Also, what is DJT hiding in those taxes? I’ve had to show mine over the years to banks and/or schools. It’s never been a problem. Then again, I learned right away at my first job that lying to the IRS would not end well!

It’s downright depressing that our president seems to be made of Teflon or he has something on members of the Republican Congress.