First sign of spring - The Cloister at Three Creeks

I've been eagerly anticipating spring here at the Cloiser at Three Creeks, as the sun is getting higher and brighter, days getting longer, and the winter snows are now all but gone. Through February everything has remained bare and brown and entirely dormant. But almost as if on cue, on Tuesday March 1st, while I was working on a new footbridge across Stoney Creek (biggest of the three creeks at The Cloister), I found the first clear, definitive sign of spring.

It was a tiny little thing, easy to miss in all the brown leaf litter and duff of the forest understory, but there it was.

I couldn't identify it from memory, although I should have, I learned to identify many native plants from my dad and mom as a kid living in a woodland valley in rural southeastern PA, but I had forgotten this one. So I hit the internet that evening to look it up, and came back the next day with all the details.

Also featured is the building of the bridge itself, with its bones visible the first day, and most of the decking complete by the time of the second video the next day.

Spring! Glorious Spring! I'll be watching for more signs and trying to keep the world informed of all the developments as the Cloister transforms from dormant brown to fresh verdant green.