Yesterday was the vernal equinox, that day of the year when the number of hours of daylight and the number of hours of night are equal. It also means that the Spring season has started.
I am more than happy to leave Winter behind. I’ve had my fill of snow and ice and cold weather. This has been our first full winter in our selected area. I’m told by the locals that this past winter was worse than normal, that they usually don’t get as much snow and certainly not as much ice. I was dreading the cold but it turns out I adapted a bit better than I expected. The cold didn’t bother me as much as it did when we were back in Texas. Maybe because the temperatures are usually cooler year round here, so I was more used to it? I even went outside several times when it was snowing and didn’t have any issues with it. OK, there was that one time with the wind, but wind doesn’t usually help beyond a light wind.
At any rate, we had some nice weather today. Clear, sunny, high around 70 deg F. (21 deg C), very light wind. Good kite flying weather, if I had a kite to fly.
I decided to check on the trees we planted last fall. We put in five maples and two apple trees. I spent a lot of time last Fall watering them and looking after them to try to make sure they’d survive the winter. I’m happy to report it seems they have all made it through and are now sprouting tiny leaves. Well, all except the honeycrisp apple tree. No signs of leaves budding out on it yet. I’m hoping at it is just a late bloomer and will burst forth soon. I know we won’t get fruit from it for a few years but that definitely won’t happen if the tree has died over the winter.
I also noticed that all the tulip bulbs the wife had me plant in the front flower bed last Fall have sprouted. It looks like one or two of them are already starting to develop flower buds. I expect they will be beautiful. I can’t remember what colors they were so it will be a bit of a surprise to see how they end up.
We went out driving to do some errands and all the grass and trees are starting to turn green again. Soon, the whole land will go from being dead, brown and grey to being a vibrant, living green. We’ll start getting more birds in the area. I even saw some of our rabbits and the neighborhood groundhog (the wife calls him Chunky). I’m sure the deer will turn up again soon. I get a kick out of seeing all the woodland creatures.
Spring has to be my favorite season of the year. It seems like a release. Winter just feels so oppressive. It just presses down on you all season. Spring, on the other hand, feels free and light and … here I call myself a writer and I can’t find the word I’m after. It’s just … more.
Anyway, my Hordeling, I hope all is well weather-wise and otherwise where you are.
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