Early March

Even though it's still February, Early March is here in California.

I thought it was just me, but a friend confirmed it when she was talking to me about the flowers at the Niguel Botanical Preserve, the birds singing, the caterpillars crawling...



it reminded me of one of my favorite blog posts about the awakening that happens in us when we turn our eyes to nature: http://childlightusa.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/a-dangerous-adventure-by-art-in-kenosha/

And this poem we read last year by James Whitcomb Riley (not that we know anything about snow thawing, but...)

When Early March Seems Middle May

When country roads begin to thaw
In mottled spots of damp and dust,'
And fences by the margin draw
Along the frosty crust
Their graphic silhouettes, I say,
The Spring is coming round this way.

When morning-time is bright with sun
And keen with wind, and both confuse
The dancing, glancing eyes of one
With tears that ooze and ooze
And nose-tips weep as well as they,
The Spring is coming round this way.

When suddenly some shadow-bird
Goes wavering beneath the gaze,
And through the hedge the moan is heard
Of kine that fain would graze
In grasses new, I smile and say,
The Spring is coming round this way.
When knotted horse-tails are untied,
And teamsters whistle here and there,
And clumsy mitts are laid aside,
And choppers' hands are bare,
And chips are thick where children play,
The Spring is coming round this way.

When through the twigs the farmer tramps,
And troughs are chunked beneath the trees,
And fragrant hints of s',gar-camps
Astray in every breeze,
And early March seems middle-May,
The Spring is coming round this way.

When coughs are changed to laughs, and when
Our frowns melt into smiles of glee,
And all our blood thaws out again
In streams of ecstasy,
And poets wreak their roundelay,
The Spring is coming round this way.

It won't be long now, Spring is coming round your way!!