Kathleen: Fragile, Fleeting Spring

I love the change of seasons, and I love that every region of the country wears the seasons differently. I've lived in lots of places in my life, and I'm a nester, so I claim roots in many of those places: Virginia, where I was born; New England, where I spent those lovely "formative" years; the Dakotas, where I got married and had children; Minnesota for the past...can it be 18 years?...and shorter stretches in other places. I think I could live anywhere and be content. But I do love four distinctive seasons. Today I celebrate Spring green.

It's such a young, fresh color. It appears quickly, and it doesn't last long. It doesn't demand
attention. It's a soft, quiet surprise.

Spend an extra week hibernating, you'll miss the first yellow-green. It's especially beautiful on the High Plains. It's a blanket, and it rolls on forever beneath the uninterrupted, ever-changing sky. Out here you can't escape the sky, but why would you want to? You've never seen blue like this. You've never seen so many stars or experienced such uninterrupted natural music. I do believe the meadowlark's song is the most delightful of bird calls. It's a lovely trill floating through tall grass.

But back to spring green. We have lots of sumac in our neighborhood, which is bounded by undeveloped park land. The city tree guy said that it's a natural chunk of woods--nothing man-planted, just the stuff that's always grown here. I doubt that anyone would plant sumac, but it provides a lovely screen, and there's an Ojibwe legend about why its leaves are the first to turn blood red in the Fall.

We've left our back yard to to grow wild. It's woody, and the critters love it. Deer, fox, hawks, turkeys, squirrels like crazy, raccoons, everybody's welcome. The front yard is planted, but mostly with native plants. Right now the wild geranium (right) is blooming all over the place. And there's columbine, whose petals in mythology symbolize the seven gifts of the spirit. Wild columbine (right) has five petals, but some cultivated varieties have seven. Even more interesting, in pantomime, a ‘columbine’ refers to the sweetheart of Harlequin.

But my favorite early spring wildflower is the delicate Prairie Smoke. (Two views here.) Its feathery show doesn't last long, but that's part of its beauty. You enjoy it while it lasts, and then it gives someone else a turn.

So much to enjoy during this short, sweet season. The warm sun that feels so good some of us don't notice how quickly our winter white turns pink. Long hours of rain, big puddles, mud that smells ready for seeds. And the time is short to get those seeds planted. Time for concerts, graduations, the first baseball games, track and field, fishing (opener here is always on Mother's Day, for pity's sake.)

What's coming up, getting started going down in your neck of the woods?



This (left) should make you Californians smile. Spring Break in Minnesota.

Oh, should mention that Sam Beaudry is still selling really well after a month on both Amazon and B&N.com. I know I have our visitors and followers to thank. And get a load of the daylilies!