Spring flowers 2009, part 1

I am soo sick of all this snow now. This has been a record winter in Oslo ... we haven't had this much snow since 1987. And we still have a hell of a lot of it, even though March is the first month of spring ... supposedly. At Tveita where I live there is so much snow ... !! Snow everywhere. On the parking lot by Tveita mall there are piles of the stuff two meters tall. At least. The footpaths are clear of it - mostly - and the gravel field is too, but that's it. The astroturf field is usable, but only because the snow has been cleared from it so that it's been planed. It's still completely white. I know, snow looks nice, but it's almost April ... !! I'm sick of winter and snow, I want spring! I want flowers! I know, I saw spring flowers in Warsaw ... but I don't really count those. Spring in Warsaw, what good does that do me? I want flowers here!! I was so happy on Thursday ... KAS texted me to say that she'd seen coltsfoot from the bus :-) on her way home from work and when I got home, there were crocus (crocuses??) blossoming in the flower beds along the front of my building. Oh, happy day ... !! Here's how it looked:

The snow was quite close still, but receding, receding ...

Both colors, too. :-D

I was so happy to think of spring being here. Crocus is a wonderful sign of spring ... it's not the same as wildflowers, but they are spring flowers all the same. I was so happy to have seen them. Then I woke up on Friday morning, and ... not so happy. >:-( It had snowed for hours already by the time I left and it went on snowing for most of the day. We had to shovel it away from the entrance at work twice during the day. >:-( This is what it looked like when I got home that afternoon:

Bwaaah ... !!! My pretty flowers. :-( They seem alright now though, the snow has already melted off them and they're none the worse for wear. But it was a depressing Friday. :-( Today the weather's been nice ... partly sunny and ... not exactly warm, but definitely a spring temperature. So things are looking up again. And how! Get this. Anne Ida and I went to a couple of flea markets today, and on the way home we spotted this on the stairs up to the platform in Blindern subway station:

I know, WTF?? Dandelions now?? In the weather we've been having? I haven't even seen so much as a potential hint of a coltsfoot. But dandelions, sure, why not. :-D It's freaky, I know, and I guess I should be worried, but I'm just so happy to have seen a real flower. A spring flower or a summer flower or whatever. A wild one blossoming entirely on its own reconnaissance.

Yay!! :-)

Update, Sunday: It turned out that I lied. The gravel field is covered with snow too now. It was clear on Thursday, but alas, the snowfall on Friday covered it up again. There were kids playing football* there on Saturday afternoon, though, even so. Kudos. :-)

*'Soccer', obviously. >:-)