Signs of - could it be - Spring?

[intertext]

It may only be January 4, but there were buds on the hellebores in my garden this afternoon.

Comments

[superfoo.livejournal.com]

That's funny because on the ferry this morning I heard that everywhere things are going awry from global warming - bats aren't hibernating, species aren't migrating and for the first time ever species from the south are actually moving north because of the mild climate.

This makes me very nervous.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Actually I don't think the hellebores are behaving all that aberantly (is that a word - my spell check doesn't think so...). They are very early spring flowers, and you often see pics of them blooming above snow. It does seem a BIT early, though. This is the first year I've had them, so I've nothing to compare them with.