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Sarah and her friend Michaela played with sticks before heading out to Kids’ Night Out at Bard.

Herman the muskrat prowled about, looking for material for his lodge.

He is far more photogenic in the water than out of it.

A mallard sits pondside, watching the sun set.

We returned to the farm after a month away to find many harbingers of spring.

Uncharacteristically negligent deer left us a single crocus, which is enjoying a visit from a bee.

We had a visit from some scaups, as well as a pair of mallards (not pictured).

We found wild hyacinths …

… and a bluebird, harbinging like a pro.

Even though we had to do a little spring cleaning …

… it was great to be out of doors.

We saw this fellow on Monday while we were kayaking on Commodore Creek, off Tarpon Bay, Florida.

We should be back at the farm next weekend!

Last year, we were surveying the damage from one of our annual 30-year ice storms.

This year, however, we are leaving for Florida.  Sarah is very excited — she woke me up at 5:30 this morning to ask why it was still dark.

It looks like we’ll have pretty good weather!

Sadly, we again have only a PondCam™ image to post, as we are stuck in New York.  There isn’t much obvious change from last week, so perhaps we’re not missing anything important.

Equally sad is the fact that Sarah has to do her piano homework on a mid-1980’s Casiotone.

Most of the snow has melted up at the farm, according to this PondCam™ image taken this afternoon.

We haven’t seen the lawn first-hand, however, as we spent the weekend in our nation’s capital.

Among other excitements, Sarah was a semi-finalist in the paper airplane throwing contest at the National Air & Space Museum.

We gave the pasta press another workout Saturday night, making fusilli.  Sarah was in charge of cutting the pasta when it reached the proper length.

On Sunday, Sarah went bowling at Ro-Lin Lanes in Red Hook.  They offer not only bowling, but also what they describe as a “Full Size Redemption Arcade” — essentially, a casino.

We had a chilly Presidents’ Day weekend, which included a visit from my college roommate Mike Heffernan.

Sarah was kind enough to help him balance as together they crossed the frozen tundra.

Sarah was also able to demonstrate her good balance on Saturday, when she was briefly put in charge of her dance class.  As you can see, not everyone followed instructions perfectly.

On Sunday, her balancing skills were put to the test at a skating lesson at the rink in Saugerties.

We spent much of Monday cracking hickory nuts, and made a big batch of hickory nut brittle.

Guess who got to lick the spoon?

Sarah’s Saturdays are taken up these days with lessons: swimming lessons at the Bard gymnasium (starfish pictured above), and dancing class at the Rhinebeck Town Hall.  (Sarah is second in line wearing red; they are being butterflies.)

As everyone in Rhinebeck will tell you (no, really; everyone), we are running out of places to put the snow.

Some illustrations:  Jen’s Sunken Garden …

… Sarah’s swing, which the snow is rising to meet …

… and her submerged jungle gym.

Still, it reflects the light beautifully at sunset.