Spring is in the air!

Posted by deb on March 11th, 2003 filed in Musings & adventures, Wildlife

Today is absolutely gorgeous, there is not a cloud in sight and the sun is high and warm in the sky. I just got back from a glorious leisurely hour long walk around the neighborhood. Through the crisp cool air came the sweet smell of a wood burning fire, someone trying to hold on to the magic of winter and coziness the cold brings a little longer while all else thaws. They will soon be disappointed as a warming trend is finally on its way!

All around me I was able to see the stirrings of the coming spring. Sprouts from the falls plantings of crocus, narcissus and tulip bulbs are poking through the soil and robins coming out of their winter community homes from the forest. It is a common misconception that robins migrate away during the winter and their return signifies the start of spring. Actually, they never leave they congregate in large populations within deep pockets of wooded areas. When it is time to court and nest with a mate that is when they choose to become more visible with a more solitary lifestyle.

This time of year I always think of the Robert Frost poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay“:

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower,
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.I think of the delicate golden hue of leaf and flower buds highlighting the branches of trees and the angle of the sunlight reflecting off of the untainted limbs. The innocence and purity of form and color is so fleeting before the flowers bloom and leaves unfurl. The beauty of the season will come to an end, as all good things do. But in the end we are left with the splendor of lush greens for the summer accentuated by the rich and bright blooms that continue to blossom during the warmer months. Each year we are rewarded with the rebirth of our surroundings, we are filled with the energy of renewal, that of fertility and growth.

I just might have to take another stroll tomorrow to wonder and marvel at the simple yet exquisite beauty.