Day 45
Happy Spring! Yay … it is finally here. FINALLY! And I say that with such emphasis that I’m nearly shouting it outloud as I type. And it wasn’t even a bad winter. Yeah – it snowed – but it wasn’t bad. No real blizzards … a couple of heavy wet storms … no tree damage … nothing awful to contend with and yet … it seemed to go on FOREVER.
And maybe it’s not the snow factor but just the TAN factor. In Denver we have 5 seasons … winter, spring, summer, fall, and tan. Tan is the season that lasts the longest … or so it seems.
Just when St. Patrick’s Day rolls around and everyone is wearing green you really realize how BROWN it is outside. Tan roofs on tan buildings (to make them blend in with the landscape), tan tree limbs and trunks and branches on tan grass. Not much is green here.
And yet – there is a glimmer of hope. The other day I was out driving and I was on an unfamiliar road and there off to my left was a stand of trees with the faintest haze of green. It was almost fairy-like in it’s lightness and soft hue. Almost ethereal. YAY!
Spring officially arrived at 1:14 a.m. this morning marking the vernal equinox for 2012 … when the length of daytime and nighttime are almost equal being that the tilt of the Earth’s axis is inclined neither towards or away from the sun … with the sun positioned directly over the equator. Meaning that day and night are pretty much of equal length.
It is also the day when folklore states that the world is in balance and that a raw egg can stand on its end without falling over. Give it a try. Sorry to disspell any claims to fame for accomplishing such a feat due to the equinox (as that is a myth) … your chance of standing an egg on its end is just as good today as it might be sometime this summer. It’s possible, not because of worldy balance, but with luck and a steady hand!
Spring is a time of rebirth and renewal, bunnies and robins and the warmth starts creeping in to the earth and flowers start blooming.
If you are in Denver … it also means snow. March is our snowiest month … followed by April. So, peeps, we are not out of the woods yet! I might be 74 tomorrow but we could have 4 feet of snow by the weekend. It does happen!
Today I miss Emmy. She was our lovely gray cat who was one of the sweetest creatures on the planet. E. Normous the Wonder Cat … Emmy for short. Without fail she would bring me a gift on the first day of Spring. Not the day before – not the day after … but always ON the first day of Spring. And usually is was a worm. How and why she did this remains a mystery but there it would be … lined up perfectly straight on the living room rug (always in the same place!) … a very large earthworm. Nice! Thanks Emmy!!!! Such a gift!
Some years she’d bring me a robin (along with the worm) and one year she brought me the worm, a dead robin and a baby bunny. Well, part of a baby bunny. In any case – it was the thought that counts.
Worms or no worms … Happy Spring!