There are many signs of spring. The snow melts away, the snowdrops and aconite arrive along with the crocus and daffodils. Day by Day, your layer of clothing gets thinner and lighter. The sun gets warmer, the breeze milder and the rain is more gentle instead of the freezing, dripping down your neck rain that often arrives in the post winter, pre spring month of March, April, May depending on where you live in the Midwest. Here in Michigan, we can have a 70 degree day one day and a 20 degree day the next. Thunder, Lightening, Tornados, freezing rain, snow–it often shows up when we think we are finally over winter.
Vultures are a sign that spring is really here to stay although I often wonder if a Vulture might be just a bit tougher than us humans. They just need the snow cover to be gone in order to do their job efficiently and that they are. I have a lot of respect for Vultures, they are the janitors of the animal world–keeping roadways and trails clean of fallen animals. They aren’t pretty and get a bad rep but you could call up a Vulture at 4 in the morning and he would be there for you, ready to work.
Pansies are the one of my favorite flowers and one of the first flowers that people rush to plant in pots on their porches or windowboxes, as they can take the cool nights of early spring and thrive until the hot sun of June does them in. Brillant Big Headed yellows w/purple centers, frilly small flowers in apricot and burgundy, Dk violet with white centers and a yellow splash. One is not prettier than the other but we all have our favorites. We crave the weather of pansies, the rite of passage between drab winter and brilliant spring. Pansies are our transport to that place of warm sun on our cool cheeks.
Baseball is the game of spring. Often too cold to grasp the baseball, pitchers blow into their hands for warmth. The hitters are heavy handed and stiff, needing the warm days of June to really start hitting the ball. Every Spring is a new chance to right a wrong season, acquire a new player, find a gem in the farm system, revive the career of a veteran. Baseball is a hot dog and a beer in the bleachers on a warm spring day. A kid’s game played by kids in men’s bodies–fantasizing hitting the winning homer in the World Series, hope springs eternal.
Springtime in Paris, Cherry Blossoms in Washington, D.C., Tulips in Holland, Michigan. Asparagus, Fiddlehead Soup, Lilacs, Lilies of the Valley, Forsythia, everything bright and yellow and spring green. We wait for this day all winter and relish in its glory. Spring, glorious Spring. I’ll take two!
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