We have our first tulip out

and I was not the one to see it.
This is a good thing. The Senior Cat had not put a paw outdoors for several days. It has been too cold, too wet, too windy. He has remained indoors.
Yesterday the sun was actually shining again and he ventured out cautiously.
    "Come and look at this!" he called to me. 
I went out and there it was. It wasn't fully out but there was the wonderful splash of scarlet against the green leaves, the mottled grey of the fence and they greying brown of the timber upright. 
Tulips are not easy to grow here. It doesn't get cold enough in the winter. The bulbs need to go into the refrigerator for months...or you need to buy them from the supplier after they have kept them in one.
Last year was a little chaotic. I did not rescue the bulbs in time. (They need to be lifted at the end of the season and well before it turns hot in summer.) We bought some more...because the Senior Cat loves them and I felt guilty.
It's been worth it.
I did rescue some hyacinths and they poked their heads up and said hello recently. The daffodils and the jonquils looked after themselves despite the heat. 
And yesterday I noticed one tiny little grape hyacinth looking around. It seemed to be asking whether it was worth coming out. I told it yes. I told it, "You give the Senior Cat a great deal of pleasure. This is what flowers in pots are supposed to do when people get too old to dig the ground."
I think it smiled at me...and it brought out a little companion this morning.