Spring walk

Today I made myself stay at my desk all day after getting out of class, and by three in the afternoon, little wisps of cloud appeared out our north window.  Thinking I'd miss the sun, I saved my file, put the computer on Coast, called Cody, and threw on my coat.  We got out in time to catch the last of the sun, and ran down the front field, heading for the hill where the dirt road peters out to a path through the woods.

 

When we got there, I shuffled dead leaves aside in the ladyslipper patches, but no shoots showed yet.  Peepers clattered in the bog, and phoebes flitted through the trees just over my head, adrenalized by mating calls.  Here and there I spotted a goldfinch, its back and wings still a dull winter brown, but its chest a bright yellow, promising spring. 

By the time we came out of the woods and walked down the road into the lower field, we couldn't hold ourselves back.  I felt like a horse just let out of the stable after four or five days inside.  Feeling the vibration of my feet as I broke into a jog, Cody looked back at me, caught my excitement and splashed through the stream up ahead.  I slowed enough to pick my way over the rocks.  Chartreuse tigerlily shoots pulsed against the brown mud on the other side, giving me another lilt that made me jog up the meadow towards the powerlines.

 

I couldn't keep it up for the whole hill, but I walked at a good clip up over the powerline corridor and down into the woods towards home.  Everything was still brown and dry there, but the maples had red leaf-buds on the tips of their branches, the beech had yellow spear-shaped ones, and mosses and lichen were brightening on the rocks. Everything was like a held breath, just waiting to burst into green.

 

I walked home, thinking that unlike my usual commiseration with my ESL students, out here, the English language suddenly makes sense.  Nature's first green, the yellow-green of new lily shoots - plus the clattering peepers and careening birds and high sun late in the day - make you giddy enough to Spring over streams and up hills across power-lines and into woods, all with new buoyancy and energy to spare.            

Comments

[ned]

Sometimes, not often mind you but sometimes I envy you Northerners with your four clearly delineated seasons. Here in Texas, we don't have seaons, we just have weather. Maybe we should just ignore the traditional seasons and define our own. Like "Drycol" Oct-Jan. "Midtemp" Feb-May and "Unbearable" June through September. There are always surprises. We're only halfway through Midtemp and it's been averaging 80 deg. + for the last couple of weeks. Garden looks good though (thanks to my drip system). Flowers on the tomatoes and the gladioli will be in flower by May. I grew up in the northeast I miss the Spring and Fall but not the snow.

[Terri]

Having grown up in New England, you enabled me to take a trip back to what a "true" spring is all about. Beautifully written and I was there with you every step of the way.
Happy Easter and Happy Spring to you, Mary Lee!

[joared]

Your description of the onset of spring certainly captures the feelings of new beginnings, a burst of new found energy I so often experienced with that season during the many years when I lived in the midwest.

Looks like I'll have to look to you and others to provide the word pictures which evoke the feelings I no longer experience in the same way without those pronounced seasonal differences I recall.

Here in So. Cal. now, I miss those remembered clearly defined seasons which I always loved. I would generally begin to tire of each season just as the new one arrived.

There is a certain sameness here in So. Cal., with the long periods of constant sunshine. But, unlike many here, I do welcome and love when we have contrasts in our weather, including the powerful look of the sky with a storm building, the rain when it comes, the winter temperatures which I experience as pleasant days.

The only thing I don't miss from the midwest years is having to drive in heavy snow for an expected time of arrival, or walking in grimy slush the several days after the snow has begun melting.

I miss fall and winter clothes which always were my favorites, but here I just get entirely too warm to wear high neck tops, heavy knits, or wool. I no longer have a need for a true winter wardrobe, or even a heavy winter coat, since in recent years, colder climes rarely have been a destination.

So, keep sharing those seasonal impressions which you do so well.

[Cowtown Pattie]

What joy is expressed in your story! I can just see you and Cody; a sudden fire in your eyes that jumps to your feet and away you run with the wind and a best companion sharing the secret romp.

Spring, indeed.