Friday ended up cloudy by the time I got out of work and didn't feel quite so warm anymore. But Saturday was simply glorious. I took the dog for a long walk through the neighborhood to the lake and back.

Cool, cool glasses!

Happy LOVED walking to the lake.

Happy also loved walking on the still-frozen, but starting to melt lake!

New sedum coming through the ground!

Then, I decided to take advantage of the weather and get some work done in the lawn and garden. It was sunny and warmish and felt like the beginning of spring. I saw buds on my lilac bush and almost all of my perennials are poking through the ground. My bulbs, hostas, day lilies and sedum are all ready for spring! And so am I. I'm pretty sure I have at least a mild case of Seasonal Affectivness Disorder -- come February I start to feel kind of depressed. It's not really the cold that does it -- although the cold doesn't really agree with me, either. It's the lack of sunshine. Truth be told, it's been a very mild winter. But even with the warmer temperatures, West Michigan has retained its winter gloom with overcast skies nearly every day. Saturday, the sun shone all day! I needed this so badly.

I ended up spending about four hours outside and it felt amazing. Plus, my garden is now in much better shape. My perennial garden had collected a lot of leaves over fall and there was all the debris leftover from last season's lilies and sedum and phlox that needed to be cleaned up. Plus, a recent wind storm had left lots of branches strewn across the yard! I hauled away several wheelbarrows full of debris between my perennials garden, shade garden and front yard. Since the bulbs are already coming through the ground, it's nice to have the rest of the garden cleaned up before the flowers come.

Warmth and sunshine on a winter day -- doesn't get much better than this!

The perennial garden looks a little depressing in winter but soon it will be full of spring blooms!

Over the past month, I had been wanting to start some indoor seeds but couldn't even bring myself to go out in the cold garage to get anything done. Also, my pots that I left outside had been frozen to the ground. Until this weekend. I rounded up my larger planters/pots and planted some seeds that I'm hoping will grow well in my sun room and tide me over until I can start the real vegetable garden. I ended up planting five cool weather crops in pots: lettuce, arugula, Swiss chard, kale and radishes. We'll see what grows. Container gardening is usually a struggle for me.

Seeds planted under the watchful eye of the dog.

I can't wait to grow my own greens again. I bought arugula from the store recently and the taste just wasn't the same. Kale is new to me, so I'm curious how it does! Lettuce almost always does well for me, even in a pot, so I'm hoping for at least success there. Radishes I haven't had the greatest luck with and the seeds I planted were two years old, so we will see. I brought all of the pots into the sunroom and I'll look forward to seeing the seeds begin to sprout. True spring doesn't start until next month and I'm sure this weather will be short lived. But I enjoyed the day thoroughly and feel good having just a small head start on this year's gardening endeavors!