And so is a whole lot of rain. It’s been pouring most of the week (usually at night), but all day today has been a deluge. Everything floods with these week-long rains and it makes getting to and from places interesting. It also makes me question my decision to not have a garage door opener. One of these rainy cycles I will give in and buy one so that I can get in and out of the car under some cover.

I like the rain because it’s a break from the monotony of the day in and day out sameness that we get. I have to think hard about how this season is different from last, and if I really think about it I can remember when it was a good bit hotter outside in the summer. So there is that. Rain makes everything clean and nice and cozy in a way that I don’t usually get; cozy isn’t really a normal thing here.

I didn’t mean to write about the weather when I started this, but the downpour has me a little distracted. Other signs of spring are the flowers that are coming into bloom again; while there are flowers all year long, I’m starting to recognize certain flowers that bloom in cycles or seasons. The other thing I’ve got right now is a crop of baby java sparrows.

Aren’t they cute? They’re just starting to get seed for themselves from the feeder; mostly they let their parents feed them while they sit in a little row on the fence. In about a month, they’ll have the usual black and white coloring of their parents, but for now they’re gray and still a little fuzzy and sit in their little groups like they don’t want to be separated from their siblings.

The whales are here, too, and starting to have all of their calves. I don’t know if we’ll make it to Maui to see them this year or not, but I can at least watch them around here. Even if all you see is the little poof of mist from them breathing, it’s still exciting.

And while I know that really it’s still only halfway through “winter,” I like having such an early spring. February was always my breaking point with winter; cold and wet and drear isn’t fun anymore in February. I like having the flowers and baby birds and whales.