Ah, Spring!

 It's not really Spring, but for the time being most of the snow is gone....and tonight we turn our clocks ahead for daylight savings time.  Turning the corner from the front door this morning, though, the sight of the wreckage along the side of the house struck me as the first signs of Spring.  It's not the longer days, the greening of the grass, the emerging tulip and daffodil buds huddled next to the foundation of the house that herald Spring.  It's dirty snow, mud, and long buried trash.  In my case it is the sight of the storm door that blew off, the unused kayak and paddle(with my life jacket huddled against the porch of the house next door), the blown down bird feeder, and the chicken fence on the ground.  While the snow covers the ground these things are not visible.  Even if a loose garbage can cover or an empty bottle or even a piece of the garbage itself appears along the street, or in your own yard, so what?  It's too cold to pick it up, and anyway, the snow will cover it up.  The reappearance of everything that got lost over the winter proclaims a new day.

At this time of the year it is too soon to do anything about the mess.  There will be plenty more winter.  We make plans, though, safe behind our windows, for what will happen in another month or so.  We'll pick up the trash, replace the doors and fences, plant a garden bigger than last year, paint the steps, get out the deck furniture, buy a barbecue, throw out our old summer clothes and get new ones. We'll wash the car, repair that crack in the front walk, put up a clothesline, prune the overgrown bush.  We'll fix those screens with the holes in them, wash the windows inside and out.

This is the view from March.