Candleflame Lichen

The dog and I walked out through the woods but  no signs of plant life waking up from their winter sleep.  It still freezes every night so that may be what's keeping everything underground.  I found my first signs of spring closer to home.  When I walked into my bathroom this morning I noticed one of the amaryllis has a foot long stalk.  I'd put the three pots of amaryllis in my bathroom just before Christmas.  The window in there is too far to the northwest for sunlight during the winter months.  It wasn't until this last week that I noticed there was a sliver of light coming through in the afternoon.  That might have been what triggered my original bulb to come back to life.  I checked the other two pots which have the bulbs I split off from the first one.  They also have a stalk peaking out.  Not exactly a sign of spring since I could probably force them to bloom whenever I wanted by just putting them in a darkened room for a certain length of time.   Still, it's a nice time of year to see something getting ready to bloom again.