First day of spring? Are you feeling it? Fact is, we have very few signs of spring around here with gray sludge decorating the streets and parking lots, and skies that need some clear, azure additions.

I desperately want spring to be here. Now. My daughter, C, our summer babe, asks e-very day if it's spring yet. "I just want warm again, Mommy." Oh, she'll be our child to live in a tropical climate and bask in the sand (and I will lather on my SPF1000 and excitedly visit her).

When we visited the local farmer's market last weekend, I knew I'd find bunches of pussy willow branches. I had to grab a handful; they remind me of my childhood in western Pennsylvania, in our rural backyard brush. The fuzzy blooms served as the early fore bearers of blossoms to come.

This time of year I gravitate to nurseries and garden centers. I dream of jasmine and gardenia fragrances lofting indoors from my front plantings and I plan, hand-in-hand with my husband, what we will nurture in our veggie and herb gardens.

How do you make it to spring? What tricks are up your sleeve for managing the still-here winter blahs?

xoxo, MJ