first blushes of spring

  We have just had the first blast of really cold winter weather, even snow, and already the wattles and blossum trees are showing the first blooms. Normally this is an indicator that spring is on its way. So are we in for the shortes winter or are the plants wrong? The observation of naturallt reoccuring events is know as phenology and was the passion of some of great naturalist last century like Thoreau and Darwin. I wonder how many sign from nature we miss every day in our busy lives?