For those who don’t live in northern New England, it might seem as though Spring is taking her own sweet time to get here. But for Mainers, things are moving very fast indeed.

As a visual aid, here is a picture of the backyard last week.

Looks like a winter wonderland, doesn’t it? Except that the picture was taken on March 23, which is officially spring in the northern hemisphere.

But Spring hasn’t forgotten us after all. Here is the backyard this week, featuring Snow-Gauge Clif.

For this Mainer, that snow melted pretty darned fast.

And look! The snow on the patio is completely gone. Time was when we hoped it would be clear by April 22, our daughter Shannon’s birthday. Now, it often melts by the end of March, and somehow, I have a hard time wrapping my head around this. It just doesn’t seem normal, even though this has been the case for several years.

While the backyard is mostly snow-free, there are still patches by the shady side of the house where the ferns grow in the summer.

Now to the front yard, where there is more snow.

But even in the front yard, the snow has gone down a lot. Here is a longer view.

When will the snow be gone from the front yard? Hard to say. It all depends on how warm it gets, whether it rains, and—dare I mention it?—whether we get another snowstorm. And yes, Maine sometimes gets April snowstorms, which tend to be wet, heavy, and nasty.

One thing is certain: there is excitement aplenty at our home by the edge of the woods.

So stay tuned.

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Looking

Last week, I featured one of the paintings Dee bought at the Maine Evergreen Hotel in Augusta when we met friends and celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary. Dee bought two paintings, and here is the second one: a delicate pen-and-watercolor by Kate Casparius, quite different from the bold owl. Unfortunately, the camera on my phone doesn’t do this lovely painting justice. But it does give readers a sense of the range of work available at the Evergreen.

This Thursday, we will be meeting friends at the Evergreen, and Dee plans to buy a third painting.

Again, stay tuned.

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Watching

Documentary: Herb and Dorothy, Available on YouTube

Dee is crazy about art and buys a piece whenever she can afford it. So far, although some has spilled out to the rest of the house, there is room on the walls in her room for most of her art.

However, when it comes to buying art, some folks have less restraint than Dee. Enter Herb and Dorothy Vogel, a postal worker and a librarian, whose passion for art exceeded that of most everyday folks. In the 1960s, they decided that they could live on one salary and buy art with the other. And boy did they ever buy art. Their small New York City apartment was crammed full of it to the point where they had to get rid of their sofa to make room for more art.

If you haven’t already seen the documentary about this charming, generous, obsessed couple, do yourself a favor and watch Herb and Dorothy. In a world that is often crabbed and stingy, the Vogels stand out as a shining example of the best of what people can be, even if most of us don’t want to stuff that much art into our homes. Slight spoiler: The Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Maine has been the beneficiary of their generosity.