Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Dance of Spring
The dance
of spring continues in our Northland. It’s
a strange dance this year.
We figured it was heeding, none too soon, our desire to get to the
warm weather. We're so ready to put the gray, wet, cool days behind us.
Average temperatures
are high 60s. We’d give plenty for a seventy-degree day. We can only imagine it
as we hunker down for the dash to the Memorial Day holiday.
Temperatures
not compliant with our wishes, we scout out other ways to feel the assurance of
spring.
Greening
is well underway. The grass is what we’re really noticing, but the tiny leaves
on the trees are starting to unfurl.
Last week
the leafing was barely perceptible. Branches wore their buds like miniature
gloves.
The boxelder struck
me as one who hurries and dresses as if for a party that, at no costs, it wants
to miss.
As
useless a tree as people declare boxelders to be, let’s give the tree its due.
It was decked out in green well ahead of the rest.
In other signs of spring, lakes are open and the
boats are out. Plentiful rain has caused creeks to rush along. High water levels are turning lakes, or some bays of lakes, into
no-wake zones.
This
doesn’t impact sailboats, which have been on the lakes since ice-out. Sails
create a calming effect as you take them in. Sails are one of my favorite
sights on the lakes.
This is
the time of year when every day brings change in nature. You have to look
quickly or miss it. It’s like our apricot tree.
The apricot tree in our yard is in blossom. I
watch for it every year.
Last week the apricot buds were negligible. You
needed a microscope to ascertain they were there.
The concentrated blossoming is like a cupful of pink kernels
popped in the air popper. These popped to perfection.
The apricot blooms are magnificent. They’re
pinkish white, large and cottony. You could mistake them for a perfect batch of
popcorn.
The blooming almost always happens behind our
backs. You turn away and the miracle of blossoming is there on our
return.
Outside
scenes daily evolve into the fuller state of the season. Buds become leaves, goslings
paddle behind their parents on the ponds and blue robin eggs hatch in their nests.
Everywhere
you look there’s something to note that lifts the heart.
Yard work is going on at our place. There’s raking and picking up of twigs
and branches. Shaping up the garden for planting is underway.
Residential blocks are brightened by the plants from the nurseries coming home with
us.
The lilac
bushes, however, are greening right along. The blooms will be here shortly, and with them their intoxicating scent.
Even as
we dig in the soil or hang our pots or put out the wind chimes the joy for some
of us is more than the present satisfaction of being in touch with nature.
This is
certainly true for those of us who thrive on heat, days of long light and change
of activity pace.
Green-up
time in Minnesota is precious. It’s short-lived and this adds to the sense of the
season running through our fingers.
Ro
Giencke – May 14, 2014
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