ALLOW ME TO WEAVE a magical photo essay today, to sprinkle fairy dust into your eyes, to transport you from the snowy Minnesota landscape into a place of wondrous beauty and warmth.
If you truly believe, just as Virginia believed in Santa Claus, you will see spring.
Ready? Let’s go.
A little fairy dust in the eyes
and we enter the magical world of spring inside Donahue’s Greenhouse in Faribault.
Here a spell is cast upon winter weary Minnesotans, some of whom load their carts with plants, unable to resist the overpowering pull of flowers in bloom.
Blossoms unfurl, fooled into spring by the warmth of the greenhouse, the rare sunshine which graces this April day.
Gazing into the future, gardeners envision spring
with nesting birds
and soil warm enough to embrace seeds.
They imagine delicate buds unfurling into graceful blossoms,
defying winter in bursts of vibrant hues.
Everywhere, in this magical place, the sweet promise of spring prevails,
except on a shelf where fantasy vanishes in the face of truth.
Spring, my dear Minnesotans, exists only in our dreams.
THIS MORNING WE AWOKE to “a bunch of snow” (my husband’s measurement) here in Faribault, snow which began falling around 4 p.m. Monday and was still coming down when I went to bed around 11 p.m. Snowfall guesstimate would be around six inches. The landscape looks similar to this scene (click here) from last Thursday, except with even more snow. Power lines and trees are frosted with the heavy, wet snow. And for awhile last night, probably less than 15 minutes, the power was off in my neighborhood.
The scene outside my office this morning, dear readers, looks nothing like spring and exactly like winter.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
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