Yesterday when I came back from work I saw these naked branches of the tree in front of my window

They looked like this….no leaves…just buds….

That’s it what I saw today in the morning when I got up –

amazing!

There are leaves!

The grass underneath my window….some blue spots – they are first spring flowers

….these blue spots – zoomed in

It is «медуница» - one of the first spring flowers here

fields of «медуница» in the forest

This is the real first

spring flower called

«мать-и-мачеха»

You know the word «мать», «мачеха» means ‘step mother’; green leaves of this flower are soft on one side and tough on the other (you cannot see them here right now, they appear later)

This tree «верба» blossoms first in spring, earlier then any flower;

People use this branches to celebrate the entrance of our Lord to Jerusalem (they symbolize palm trees leaves used for greeting Him when he entered Jerusalem on his donkey). There are no palm trees in Russia, that is why we use this tree. «Вербное воскресенье» is a big religious celebration here

This flower is the third which appears after мать-и-мачеха and медуница here in spring