After A Long Winter’s Nap

Posted on April 15, 2026 by Suburban Farmgirl Nicole Christensen

Hooray! It is finally spring! The winter thaw is done, and the weather has surely but slowly continued to warm up! Before the “big spring cleanup” that happens after winter but before summer, it’s been a great time to visit some local attractions. From high tea to baby animals, signs of spring are arriving in New England!

The month of March started with snow and ice covering everything. On a day when it was finally a temperature where we could get outside a bit, we went for a walk on our favorite trail. The snow had melted a bit, but we still had a long way to go!

I know the world news everyday is hard to watch, but there’s heartwarming news, too. Have you heard of Punch, the little Japanese macaque monkey that caught the attention of animal lovers around the world, the last few months? Born in the Ichikawa Zoo in Japan, his mother abandoned him at birth. Zookeepers gave him a surrogate mom – an orange orangutan stuffie from Ikea. Punch captured the internet’s collective hearts as he clung to that stuffie for love, peace, and comfort. Little Punch carried that stuffie everywhere in the zoo enclosure, running to it when he was bullied by the other monkeys, sweetly sharing his food, cleaning its face, or sleeping on it. At the peak of his “fame”, I honestly could not feel my day was complete without a “Punch Report”. Millions of visitors flocked to the zoo in Japan, just to see the little “underdog” monkey and his stuffed lovey. If you haven’t heard the latest, little Punch is thriving! We love you, Punch!

I follow our local zoo, The Connecticut Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, on Facebook. I was thrilled to see that they also had a new baby monkey! Born on December 18, 2025, the sweet baby Spider monkey needed a name, and the Beardsleyzoo asked the public to vote. I was so excited that the name I voted for, Mirabel (which means “wonderful”), got the most votes! I could not wait to see the new little one!

We made plans to go on a Sunday that was chilly but not impossibly cold. Visiting local attractions during “off peak” seasons is a good way to support them, and a crisp, overcast day meant that there weren’t a lot of crowds, and the animals were much more active than on a super-hot summer day!

*This American Condor showed off his huge wing span to us!*

*This sign is special to our family, as Julia Wasserman lived not too far from us, and we bought a fresh Christmas tree from her tree farm every year until her death. She was such a nice lady.*

*So maybe not ALL the animals were active on the chilly, overcast day! This maned wolf was snoring so loudly we could hear it through the glass! Sweet baby!*

*When we first saw Mirabel, I wanted to cry! Such a sweet baby, clinging to her mama, tails entwined. We watched for the longest time. My visit to the zoo was complete!*

We saw so many wonderful exhibits, saving the best for last! Janet, Mirabel’s mother, came out of the door at the spider monkey exhibit, with her sweet little baby on her back. We stood in awe, watching them for a full thirty minutes! All babies are sweet, but there’s something extra-special about this fuzzy little one! Oh my heart!

By the end of March, the snow had gone completely, but while we have had a few days where the high actually got to the 80’s, this April we are still getting lows as far down as 28 degrees! For my chilly birthday weekend, our family headed to The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk, something we have not done in ages!

That visit was fun, too, with so many exhibits of fish and other marine life, as well as a few mammals, too.

*It felt like this fish was judging us…*

…while this one looks like it spent all night gaming on a computer.

This sweet girl captured our hearts. She came to the aquarium as a pup with a terrible eye injury, so she could not be released back into the wild. At 23 years old, she has surpassed her life expectancy, but is healthy and happy – a testimonial to the wonderful care at the Norwalk Aquarium.

*The jellyfish room is mesmerizing! We also got to touch a jellyfish at one exhibit, and feed a stingray!*

Where else can you spot an endangered spotted turtle?

*This sloth perfectly captures how WE felt all winter!*

My daughter also surprised me by taking me to “high tea” at a tea room for my birthday. The woman-owned, beautiful Posh tea room opened in Monroe, CT about a year ago. I have been dying to go! It was worth the wait, and the spring menu was delicious! I really felt like Queen for the Day, and the table setting and menu made it feel as though spring was truly “official”!

While we are still a bit behind in warmth, the birds are back, my seeds are started indoors for summer planting, and evening isn’t as quiet anymore, when the warm breeze blows on a clear night, and we hear the peepers and insects waking up from a long winter’s nap.

A family of house finch have a nest outside my window.

*I took this photo while taking my dogs out before bed on a rare clear cloudless night. The spring air was cool and clear with insects trilling.*

This spring, along with the usual tomatoes and peppers, we are trying garbanzos in the garden!

It’s that weird, ‘in-between” season, where my laundry basket has both shorts and sweaters. We can only go up from here, weatherwise. Spring chores are on queue, but after such a long winter, it’s a welcome change!