I went to St. Louis March 5-9. I now have a photo tour up on the March 5th entry.

(Note: this photo has nothing to do with Gayle per se, but I thought she’d enjoy it!)

Loving this! For sale at Plushroom Soup‘s etsy site.

Her critters are also available locally at Crafty Planet and I Like You. There were 2 yetis—both with blueish tinged fur—in the front window at Crafty Plant on Wednesday.

While I was in St. Louis, I looked for signs of spring at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Spring seemed a little late this year—the flowering trees were not yet blooming, but they did have large buds. Here’s what I saw:

Spring was starting in the English Woodland Garden. Daffodils were pushing through last fall's dead leaves.

The winter aconite, with its yellow blossoms, was the farthest along.

Hellebore unfurled it's leaves...

and showed reddish blooms.

At first I thought it was too early for crocus.

But as I looked closer, I could see them...

Purple...

and yellow!

I was too early for glory of the snow, but gigantic snowdrops greeted me in the Mausoleum Garden.

More crocus were blooming in the bulb garden

And they looked almost fluorescent in the Shade Garden.

There were also some bright purple early irises.

Just before my camera battery died, I came upon a gorgeous Ozark witch hazel.

Wow! What a splendid finish!

Saturday, Barb and I went to the Butterfly House for March Morpho Mania. Every March they release thousands of blue morpho butterflies into the conservatory. It was amazing—but extremely hard to capture with a camera. They flutter so quickly. I did manage this composite photo. The blue was much brighter in real life.

You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up or down — [up] man’s old — old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.

This is the same band that did the famous treadmill video.

Hope you are well and happy.