Getting impatient....

 There's supposed to be snow on the ground, but there isn't.  Instead of sitting around wishing for snow - which will not produce results - I find myself thinking "hell, if we're going to skip winter, let's get spring started" then hitting the trails in search of wildflowers.  That's what I did a few days ago, and I found Mother Nature to be teasing me.  Encountered the earliest leaves of Dusky Horkelia, Shooting Star, Death Camus, and Red Larkspur, but no "real" flowers.  However, when I calmed down and found more satisfaction in what I was actually seeing, rather than what I was wishing for, the flowering Pussy Willows (above) seemed more beautiful than ever.  Then I stretched the meaning

of flower from the strictly botanical to the aesthetic and thought of the Bird's Nest Fungus (above) to be sufficiently flower-like to bring great satisfaction.  One of these days I hope to be in the vicinity of these little wonders when a raindrop lands in one these cups and causes the "eggs," which are actually spore cases, to explode and distribute the spores in every direction. 
Meanwhile, I will probably take mini-excursions ever day, hoping to catch the first bloom of Shelton's Violets, Shooting Star, Rock Cress, and other local early-birds.  And, in the back of my mind, continue to plot my first trip of the year to Table Mountain where the excitement of spring wildflowers has already begun.