Where is the Dandy Lion?

Usually, by this time of year, some of these are popping up around the flower beds. Haven't seen any so far - could we attribute this fact to the cold, snowy weather we continue to have? When we children were small, we used to pick them for Mother, disregarding the juice that ran from the stems and made our hands black and sticky. She would put them in a glass, sometimes slitting the stems so that we could watch them magically curl outward. (What makes them do that?) The tiny blue iris are blooming - my 3-year-old neighbor friend, Cayden, wanted to know why we had blue flowers. They do look somewhat forlorn, especially when it snows again, as it did on Wednesday night. I drove up Cub River to our quilt retreat yesterday morning, wishing I had taken my camera, because the snow was a very pretty sight, coating everything with magic. I was glad, however, to see it melted by yesterday afternoon. Perhaps spring will come, after all. We are waiting for those warm days when we can take some of our reading or sewing out to the patio to soak it all in, or to grub in the flower beds, or plant some of the early spring seeds. (I know, some of my friends have already planted their peas, radishes, etc., but these nights of frost deter me from being so ambitious.)