When Late Winter Feels Like Early Spring (and other Seasonal Wackiness)

It's been one of those weeks when the calendar says it's late winter, but your nose can smell an early spring.  The quick snow melt over the past few days revealed a  lot of interesting things in my neighborhood, like crocuses, matted grasses, and these hellebores:

Distressing to Miss Coco is the annual exposure of her numerous hidden "chewies" in the backyard.  She collected 14 (!!!) of them near the corner of the house while I was cutting down grasses on Thursday, and has been systematically bringing them in the house one by one.  Here's part of her outdoor collection, which is apparently being guarded from neighborhood doggie thieves by the her friend the turtle:

During my cleanup, I noticed that my tiny snowdrops have returned.  These are the only ones that have ever grown for me, and I realize they look a little pitiful and lonely, but they still make me smile:

The new growth on some of my groundcover sedums definitely says "spring"... but the long shadows cast by the Russian sage in front of them are a reminder of winter:

In the house, the Amaryllis is even more confused than I am about the seasons:

This will be its THIRD time blooming without a dormancy break!  I'm not even sure what to say about this one... I'm just steering clear of it and leaving it be, because it apparently is liking all of this neglect wonderful, attentive care I've been giving it for the past year and a half.

Either that, or it simply likes to torture me.  Don't be fooled by the close-up of the bud shown above... when this guy blooms, the flower is PINK.  (Argh, lol.)

Hope everyone else is outside enjoying this great preview of spring, and maybe even getting your hands in the dirt a little bit, too!