Is Winter Over Yet?

It has been a hard and wintery February in the Baltimore area but parts of the United States have had it much worse so we really should not complain! The above photograph shows my home at 3800 Canterbury Road, in Baltimore a couple of weeks ago after a snow and ice storm. Our condominium apartment is the one with the balcony on the right (3rd floor). The Johns Hopkins University is a block away to the left and we live in an area known as Tuscany-Canterbury.

The other photograph shows a scatter of holly berries on the snow opposite the Broadview Apartments down 39th Street from where we live. When I took the photo there had been a sharp, frigid wind since the snowfall which might have accounted for the fallen berries. However, also the local robins and other birds had been attacking the hollies and ivy to get berries. So it might have been their doing that so many berries were scattered on the ground. The poor things must have been ravenous in this freeze. I remember one extremely cold evening when I arrived at Union Station to get the train back to Baltimore and hundreds of starlings had come in under the groined roof of the arcade at the front of the station to get out of the cold. They were all gathered there like big thin eyebrows on the arches.

Now -- hopefully! -- today, Spring is arriving in this area with temps climbing into the fifties expected -- although I would not be surprised if we still see some more snow before Spring really gets here!!!