An Easter Message

Spring is Sprung

It is Easter weekend and it looks as though spring has finally sprung.

I am a snow worshipper… but if I say this to my family, who have endured the severest winter in many years, I had better duck…. shoes, pots, snowballs and glowers will fly at me.

I am visiting my daughter Jessica in Connecticut and she had promised me snow was still on the ground… and sure enough, when I arrived on Thursday night, clusters of snow were still obstructing the driveway.

There is something special about the lingering winter with its barren trees. Light penetrates unobstructed through the forest. A spring wind makes their tender stems dance like a synchronized ballet. And in spite of the severe winter winds and snows, there are still some trees with leaves clinging to their branches. Why?

Friday was a cheerless day with intermittent downpours; the pond was still covered with a layer of ice and rimmed with snow. A winter chill was in the air. Cold was everywhere, inside and outside of the house. There were rude noises about the fu-----ing snow. I bundled up in a blanket. In spite of the glum weather, I went to work trying to concentrate on a design project. Nothing creative flowed onto the paper.

But, oh what a difference a day makes! Saturday I woke to a brilliant orange sun trying to penetrate through the shades of my bedroom, a promise of a break in the weather. By the time I got up, the ice on the pond had started to melt and at the end of the day, it was gone. A walk through the garden revealed clumps of snowbells, crocuses and daffodils pushing through the melting snow. Spring was definitely on its way. Finally, sitting on the deck after dinner, nothing says spring more than the ear-splitting cacophony of lovesick tree frogs in search of a mate!

In a few days, even before a single leaf appears, the forest will take on a pale, fuzzy, green hue. It is the start of nature’s metamorphoses from its winter sleep into a brilliant new awakening. It may last only a few days before all hell will break loose. The trees and the earth will explode with all their might. Trees will burst with new leaves; the earth will part for ferns and flowers to emerge. The energy is almost palatable. Buds will burst open; pussy willows will morph into delicate flowers, forsythia bushes will paint a bright yellow everywhere, magnolia trees will bloom even before they send forth a single leaf. Spring at last!