Teacher Debbie Weiman of Bethlehem Lutheran Child Development Center in Elgin takes preschoolers (from left) Jackson Stoecklein, Izabella Vazquez, Caraline Dzubin and Evelynn Davis for a stroll at Lords Park in Elgin. | Michael Smart~Sun-Times Media
A robin hops around Lords Park in Elgin Tuesday looking for a meal. Despite popular belief, robins are not reliable harbingers of spring, sometimes staying around all year. | Michael Smart~Sun-Times Media
The green leaves of a tulip make their way above the fallen leaves Tuesday at Lords Park in Elgin. | Michael Smart~Sun-Times Media
Lines between leftover bits of snow mark where sledders once slid down at a hill at Lords Park in Elgin. With the warmer weather Tuesday morning, the snow melted within an hour. | Michael Smart~Sun-Times Media
Patricia Hill relaxes among the brown vegetation from winter with the sprouting of winter aconite near her feet Wednesday in her prairie garden in Elgin. | Michael Smart~Sun-Times Media
A snow drop (galanthus elwesii) sprouts above the brown from winter in the yard of Patricia Hill of Elgin. | Michael Smart~Sun-Times Media
The warm winter and early spring-like wewather brought out winter aconite flowers blooming weeks ahead normal on the property of Patricia Hill of Elgin. | Michael Smart~Sun-Times Media
Weathercasters tell us that “meteorological spring” begins not March 21 but on March 1. This year, following a December through February that often felt more like a spring than a winter in the Fox Valley, that has been easy to believe. And never easier than …
