Think Out Loud - Forsythia

Saturday I took a walk around the neighborhood and, despite the bright sun and the warming temperatures (about 45 degrees at 7:30 am), the landscape was still pretty barren - the trees were still leafless, the planters still empty, the lawns still the brown-green of dormant grass. It was like none of the plants believed the winter was done.

Sunday I took a similar walk, at a similar time. But on this walk I started to notice the forsythia, which makes up a hedge by many houses and roadsides in my area, were yellow with blossoms. Then I saw an ornamental cherry, suddenly heavy with pink and white flowers. As I made a turn I was brought face to face with a dogwood whose big blooms were on full display. None had been there the day before.

I could feel an extra bounce in my step, just from the bright demonstration of rejuvenation and renewal. It struck me, on Sunday as I contemplated the tale of two days, how quickly things can change. The birds had been singing more strongly each day since the last snowfall but only now did I believe, like the plants, that spring was here.

Spring Sky

Spring has come;

There are buds on the lilacs

The sun no longer is its weak

Winter self.

But the sky, the sky

This spring night

Harkens back to the winter.

Cold air gives a sharpness

The scarcity of clouds

An open vista

To thousands, nay, millions

Of tiny twinkling pinpricks.

Think Out Loud - Spring

Spring seems to have finally arrived in the U.S. East Coast. This after a winter that most people have complained was both long and harsh.

Curiously, at the start of this winter, right after Christmas, I wrote the following:

It Almost Feels Like Winter

It almost feels like winter
The wind howling 'round
The temps rising up to 30
With flurries coming down.

It almost looks like winter
The sun's rays are so weak
Bare trees cast odd shadows
As the clouds passing by do sneak.

It almost feels like winter
You need your gloves and hat
The weatherman speaks of wind chill
Maybe nudge the thermostat.

It almost feels like winter
But in my mind's eye
It holds no candle to the memory
Of winters long gone by.

So little snow, no sledding
Or igloos, forts, snowballs
Perhaps it's all idealized
A figment of mental thralls.

Regardless of its factuality
I miss it all the same
I love the snow in wintertime
Without, it all seems too tame.

But, I agree with "most people" that it ended up to be a comparatively long, harsh winter. In March, desperate to be positive, I wrote this:

Almost Spring

The clouds can’t decide

Thin, fair-weather cirrus,

Low, scudding gray nimbus,

Towering puffs of cumulus,

Following one after the other.

The air can’t decide

Frost one clear sunny morning,

Warm fog the next;

Icy wind one evening,

Calm, almost balmy, the next.

The sun can’t decide

Bright and comfortable

Or thin and distant,

Obscured by overcast

Or burning the overcast away.

But the animals have decided.

The birds twitter merrily,

The squirrels chirp and scold.

Tabby cat begs to go out.

Spring is coming; almost here.

I love the transition, relish the change. I was happy to have winter and am happy to see it go. Here's to spring, to change, and the ever hopeful possibilities they bring.

(both of the above have recently been published in my collection Moments, available on Smashwords.com for all of April for 99 cents.

Think Out Load - Appreciating Spring

This is a very interesting concept meme.

One recurring thought, as the "worst" winter in many years hangs on in the American Northeast, is

Won't we appreciate spring more when it actually does come?

This was emphasized to me when I heard the Passenger song, Let Her Go.

Now, I like snow. I like the cold. I like the clear air after a snowstorm passes through. I like the sound of the howling wind on a dark night. But I also like finding the first brave flower of spring. Watching for the songbirds return from their winter exile. Seeing the trees burst out in new leaves. Feeling the warmth of a spring day. I cherish the changes.

So this spring, maybe, I'll have company in appreciating L'Differance! At least a little more than usual.