An Early Spring

Spring is sprung
The grass is riz -
I wonder where the birdies is?
The birdies are upon the wing
But that's absurd!
The wing should be on the bird.  Spike Milligan

Keeneland Thorobred Association's Spring Meet in Lexington, Kentucky is the perfect venue to celebrate the demise of the Winter season. Everything else is lame in comparison. Time suspended for a few frivilous diversions. Afterwards the sense of inner peaceful coexistence with one's personal demons, as even the most aggressive rush hour drivers on the Bluegrass Parkway fail to spoil the moment.....

Synchronicity. Driving home this afternoon in the Montana sunshine and half-hearted snowfall, I spoke that very quote to my husband. So true.

I'm still waiting for winter..............................
 
Good morning HAZEL, BERT, & HERONOW(welcome!).......................be careful of the snow!

HOWDY MISS BEBE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
an All Y'all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do our diverse villagers see as the first signs of spring? I have daffodills and camelias, I'd love to hear of cactus flowering, the girls in the city looking pretty, traditional spring rituals?

Spring at last...Spring at last.....Thou Shamrock of good omens, Beneath the Bank growing where on stood the gracious Honey Bee, the Great Bumble, the Great Queen Bee...Rare Bee---rarely ever seen.

Hazel Leese Happy Mothers Day!  ***************We have a backyard Plum Tree that blossom, so fragrant and pretty....and my wild Irises pushing out from the thawed out dirt.....and Oh my, the forsythia bloomed right on time...for Easter....Pussy willows are budding....again,...... the fairies are out and about...." they traveled from Europe as stowaways...by way of boatship,...... many years ago,...... with their 19th century, "get out of town," European passengers. Faires arrived well and happy all throughtout the land in America.... along with European Apple Trees...In the Spring, in the early morn dew, Fairies are dancing among the gardens with sunny delight!!!!

The sun has Riz
And the sun has set
And I still haven't made it
'Cross Texas yet.

Spring indeed!  I know it is here because my living room window (on the second floor) faces a divine arboreal cloud.  Our cherry tree is in absolute full bloom.  The daffodils are up.  And the weeds are growing.  I may mow my lawn this weekend just to level these visitors, the wild onions and the clover.  The temperature has been saying, "Spring," since last Saturday with murmurings for a month.  Our winter was the fourth or fifth warmest on record, and I am glasd of Spring's early arrival so there is no chance of a final winter nastiness.  Spring indeed!

Ummgawa ~
I liked the Texas rancher boasting to a young Northerner: "I could get in my pick-up, drive until the sun goes down, and still not get off our land."
The fellow answers: "Yeah, I had a truck like that once."

And with Spring has come a new member of my family.  Abigail Elizabeth was born via c-section last Friday at 8:01 AM PDT in Santa Barbara, CA.  8 pounds 1 ounce and 20 inches long.  Abigail was born a very healthy pink and is nursing as though it were an Olympic sport.  Hooray!  Mom is doing well.  And my wife is out there until the 30th,  Happy Spring!

Haze- Yes dear, I have a business trip planned to Tanzania in the immediate future if it doesn't fall through and I wanted to get your overview and as I love to eat and imbibe your advice. I am a collector of international smiles (Jamaicans being my favorite) and have found theirs to be some of the best.  

Lynn- Congratulations. Ah yes. Spring is a mindset and not just a season. No better new beginning than God's presence in a fresh new face. Renewal is our greatest hope. Things are neither created or destroyed just reborn.   

New babies: the best part of life no contest.
They smile back at me which is a bit of a surprise: I scare myself every morning.

http://youtu.be/l-dYNttdgl0

Happy Spring! Congrats GRANDLYNN! (your first grandchild?) HAZEL in these N.E. parts yellow and purple--daffodils and crocuses (croci)demonstrate the coming of spring........but I am absolutely not convinced that we will not get another spell of cold weather. Everything is budding and in a few weeks it will be breathtaking, but for now...still brown with peeks of Easter colors.

What happens to me in Spring is a song from The Coleytown Capers...a show the parents in my elementary school put on annually. It stays in my head for weeks.

Its Spring.
Mother Westport has a brand new bonnet.
Just to remind you its Spring.
Its spring
Every Teddy Taxi toots a sonnet
Just to remind you its Spring.
From Compo to Wilton
I hear the sweet lilting refrain.....
Its why we're Capering........

Weeks every year since 1956, anytime someone says "Its Spring" off goes the song in my head. The only thing to equal it was when people would order sunnyside eggs...waiters say "Sunny" and that song "Sunny, thank you for.." would trigger but its only 25 years of that.

Welcome HERONOW, nice to see you!

The first sign of Spring for me is the itchy nose, watery eyes and sneezes of allergies!  So.....many of the other heralds of Spring are lost on me as I seclude myself inside with an air purifier.   However..............the newspaper starts whipping up enthusiasm for the Community Garden, people seem a little lighthearted and gay.  And NCAA "March Madness"---if I lived anywhere else that would mean nothing to me, but living in Jayhawk town March Madness surrounds me. (For those not familiar, March Madness is the college basketball championship series and yes, it usually takes the a good portion of the month.)

The first day of spring: AAaaaaaaaaaaachoooooo!

Lynn- congratulatuins! Grandchildren are just more fun than you think you're allowed to have. Post a pic of yours.

Awww... ; Congratulations to Lynn830! Ah, Spring, the birth of beautiful things.  Cardinals engaged in rapturous song. Robins tippling at leaves hoping for worms.  Chickadees fighting over freshly painted houses.  Kitties warily watching over feeders and baths. All so delightful!

The answer to a question posed by the Beauty: "When do you turn on the dehumidifier in the basement?" is a three parter.
A) Spring.
B) When the right door on the big oak wardrobe in the dining room can no longer be completely closed, a condition that will prevail for six or seven months.
C) Right after I clean the thing.

We have, in the Upper Midwest, experienced temperatures thirty or forty degrees higher than normal spurring concerns that apple and cherry trees will blossom early and those blossoms will be exposed to harsh weather that could destroy them… the dark lining to the silver cloud.

March 20, 2012 11:21 AM.
Peter Lake said...

Ooops, I posted this yesterday just a few minutes ago......I hope I did not inadvertently change the past .......

I was serenaded by a vibrant red cardinal last evening as I sat in the back yard reading....but spring sprung about three weeks ago according to all of Mother Natures symptoms. I think someone has been fooling' with her thermostat......which I hope won't get her her knickers in a twist so she starts reeking havoc around here in the upper Midwest . Nor at least not more than usual.

Meanwhile, and everywhere .......'spring is in the air, and my blood approves, for kisses are a far better fate than wisdom, I swear by all flowers'.

e. e. cummings

Congrats to the new Grandpa. May her life be blessed.

Now with that said....I do remember throwing snowballs on Easter.

The boys of summer will be back at Wrigley shortly. If this keeps up, the vines will already be green when they get here.

We have experienced spontaneous photosynthesis this week.

Peace out

I always want a smoke after spontaneous photosynthesis..........hmmmmm

I have been Grandpa Lynn for almost seven years.  My two stepdaughters now have two each, and each has a boy and a girl.  The eldest, Kaden, will turn seven in August, and his sister, Kaya, is now two.  Alexander turned five in February.  Kaden and Kaya live in Arlington, so we see them weekly.  Alexander and Abigail are in Santa Barbara, sp seeing them takes a special trip.  They may be out here in August, and I expect we can get a picture of all four of them.

Eventually, God willing, my daughter who married last year will add to the family.

Here in N. Ga we have had 4 days of 80's and broken a record for warmth this early...trees are covered in tiny bright green fledgling leaves, daffodils are mostly finished, hyacinths finished and wilted, forsythia in full yellow riot, lilac blooming and spreading sweetness in the air, spirea in its full white tiny blooms, azaleas all in full bud, wild blueberry bushes that grow rampant all under the trees across the vacant land are greening up, butterflies are visiting, as are the wasps, hornets, carpenter bees, and flies. Birds are calling and swooping, finding nest materials, and looking colorful. I hear a woodpecker out there drumming now.

It is a lovely early spring, except for the constant layers of yellow pollen dusting every surface! Pollen shows most on cars and tops of grills, but is out there in abundance.We are reminded to wipe off shoes,pets, our own clothes and hair as we come in from outside to keep it out of the house.

Lynn - Congratulations on the little granddaughter! Hope you get to visit her soon, but surely there will be many photos put up.

Welcome to heronow out there in Montana! Hope your snow lets up soon.

Carol - I'm with you on the allergy symptoms this time of year! You have my sympathy....guess you have your own remedies and tissues!

Bert - I can just imagine those beautiful thoroughbreds and the celebration! Do you have a horse in the review?

The proper to use a reference to spring when talking to the fairer sex is to tell her she looks like the first breath of spring instead of saying she looks like the end of a long hard winter.

Welcome heronow!  I just read your profile and my lord you sound like me and quite a few others on this site.  Loved the "I am a woman with a lot of loves."  I have a good feeling this relationship could be mutually delightful... welcome, again!

Carol:  here's something you won't believe, I don't believe it either, but it's true:  for the last ten years I've been plagued and I mean plagued with every allergic symptom in the book, I felt like the canary in the coal mine- me in the country air in the spring.  I could list my agonies but you did a good job of it, I had those, all of them that you have.  Note the HAD.  I have no allergy symptoms this spring.  None.  Maybe itchy eyes now and then but no big deal.  I never heard of someone outgrowing their allergies unless they were children, and I'm sure not one of those.  I don't know what it is, but knock on wood, maybe this year I can enjoy spring, rather than wanting to hide from it and strangle all those who went on about how beautiful the season is...knock wood, knock wood.  Could it be?  Maybe I'm becoming accustomed to the prairie stuff that blows around?  knock wood...

Park---I sure hope so for you!  I remember Springs, I didn't used to have the problem--until about 10 years ago.  So if you can suddenly get 'em, I guess you can suddenly lose 'em!  Good luck!

Carol and Park ~ My allergies went away the one summer that I started taking eyebright as an herbal supplement.  The allergies rarely bothered me except when mowing the lawn. I took the herb that summer which relieved my allergy symptoms. The next summer I was prepared to resume taking the herbs. I never took it again and have never had any other problems.  Pollen count in Atlanta 9563 plus or minus.

I was going to flip a coin, heads Stravinsky…tails
Vivaldi.  Then I noticed Stoney already made an executive decision.  If y'all prefer Vivaldi, hit your return to Stoney 9:18 am button, if you don't care for either, you are welcome to skip this link.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrOUYtDpKCc

Winter is over ...... Spring has Sprung...now, I got my underware in a bundle and  my knickers in a twist, over the noise of leaf blowers and lawn mowers...moving and grooming....til the sun goes down.......a quick thought on Spring....indeed....the season for "getting the Move ON...!!! 

Chef D- Thanks for the kind words about my pic but alas my dietary indulgences and propensity toward laziness are generously offset by God's decision to bless the beasts and the children and me (fortunately).

Heavy sigh........I just voted in the Illinois primary and do not have one iota, not even a hint or a whisper of a sense of accomplishment. If anything, I feel like I just spit into the wind.

Voter turnout has been horrible so far.......maybe I'll try a few more times.

PARK & CAROL After a lifetime plagued with allergies (we usually called it Hay Fever) and 20 years of non stop medication, I lived at the beach for a year and did not have one symptom. Back in the woods, they never came back! Go figure!!

PeterLake, we have no primary, but I can imgine how you feel. Never have I been so thoroughly sick of people's behavior.  Congress and the House aquabbling like uncivilized children; life overlaid by negative ads and their fallout; the same voices explaining "what happend today" in the world politic.
 
I've taken to watching (CNN 9pm EST -- daylight savings, now) Piers Morgan, a Brit who has a better feel for this country than all the Rush Limbaughs and their icky ilk.  Here but a year, he knows and understands more than the talking heads of whom (which?) STONEY spoke disparagingly several essays ago, put together.
 
We had no winter, but the Vernal Equinox comes 'round as surely as does its opposite.
I sit here "barefooted as a yard dog," to quote my deceased mother, in a crinkled-cotton sleeveless dress.  Air conditioning keeps coming on, going off, as it's calibrated to do.
 
The idea of pagan ceremonies to celebrate this Equinox is increasingly attractive; at least it has meaning -- or did to its practitioners. 
 
My city is ablaze with azaleas, camellias, etc everywhere you look; The Augusta National 'controls' how its plants bloom, though, so that precious first week of April everything will beautiful for viewers and vsitors. The machinations they go through to hold blooms back or force them to bloom are stunningl watch tv that week and you'll see.
 
Peach farmers are very worried,as were pecan farmers earlier; if we have even a brief cold snap, the price of peaches goes straight up -- and Oh! how much juicier and tastier are local ones.
 
Of the Talent SHow, I'm in a dither: I wanted to use a satirical poem (sonnet, close to form as it comes), but it has too many words.  Eliminating even a few would alter the shape of the poem and ruin it. WHat to do, what to do?  Chris, at JPO has said he'll help me fit it in, but I don't know that he's still willing: I sent an email but received no response.  I could choose another poem, a short story, an essay -- but y'all would gat a chuckle from "Televangelism." 
'

Peter - I too know just how you feel. I have no great enthusiasm for anyone running. I find that in this election as in so many in past years....it will be a vote against and not a vote for. So sad.

CD---Oh! How I'd love to live seaside or beachside...............and I agree w/you about TT.  It's definitely not fair at all that such a gourmand should not be as large as a barn.  Go figure.  Maybe it just plagues women, but somehow good food and good drink soon become evident to the eye on us.

Georgia~ Do it! You've got me wondering what your poem will say!

Lynn - Congratulations!!!
 
In this town of Annapolis, aka The Sailing Capital of the East Coast, the Rite of Spring began at dawn with the burning of The Socks.  An ancient Rite held in the Maritime Republic of Eastport on the dock across the Bridge from AYC.  A marvelous event attended my many - the socks go and the beer flows!!

My, you have been busy while I've been out playing. I even got a haircut this afternoon - hardly recognise myself. I'd developed that Old English Sheepdog look and it was driving me crazy. My sympathies to the allergy sufferers. Vaseline up the nostrils helps, as does wearing a baseball cap or somesuch to keep the pollen out of your eyes. I take antihistamine tablets 365 days a year but still get the occasional day of itchy eyes, sneezing etc etc. At the moment, we have clouds of pollen from the Hazel catkins, coating everything in a fine yellow dust. Found clumps of wild violets in my garden today and the winter  velvet coats that magnolia buds wear are almost ready to split open. No azaleas or rhodos yet, but  they are covered in buds so promise of a great show soon.

GEORGIA--Chris the Webmaster is always true to his word and accomodating, I am certain he will figure out a way for all your words!

Hmmm, Giraffe~ The Burning of the Socks? I'm sure the aroma is delightful.
A read through a days Eye posts always has me giggling and laughing out loud, smiling at good news like Lynn's new grandchild, sometimes shedding a tear or two as you share sad events .... never a dull moment.

Hmmm, Giraffe~ The Burning of the Socks? I'm sure the aroma is delightful.
A read through a days Eye posts always has me giggling and laughing out loud, smiling at good news like Lynn's new grandchild, sometimes shedding a tear or two as you share sad events .... never a dull moment.

Oooops! Berted!

Giraffe---I'm guessing if the beer is flowing no one is noticing any sock odors!

The garden birds - dawn chorus about 5.30am now 'tho our clocks go forward this weekend. Anybody have ideas on how to stop the little darlings pecking out my nice new window glass putty that took me ages to get just so? They are after the linseed oil. I've put linseed in the bird feeders but they prefer putty.
 

Hazel--put some putty and linseed oil in th feeders......

CHEFDEB:  The Sea Air is Good for Body & Soul, and it will cure a multitude of conditions ... And, living on the Beach means never having to mow the lawn !!!
 
Shrimp & Crab boiled in Beer, in a Bucket, on the Beach ... just tastes Good !!! Add some Bagel Chips and Pita Chips, a pan full of proper Hummus, a Fruit Salad  laced with Pistachio Nuts and chunks, of Coconut, a little Poppyseed Dressing, and one can forget that its Monday .......  Can't do that in the Adirondacks !!!  (But I Like Their Chairs)

All winter I have anticipated spring's arrival.  I have waited for the daffoidls to bloom in the yard.  Then I came home today and my stupid idiot neighbor's kids had picked them and thrown them down to wilt and die. Of course, they did not do it.  I am sick of liars.  I am sick of stupid  kids doing whatever they want and lying about it.  They have ruined the week.  But what do they care?  They care only for their stupid selves and nothing about the property of others.

Oh, spring rain, so sorry about your daffodils! They are my most absolute favorite, and I can understand how you feel. I've been trying to keep mine every year from the deer. Somehow, deer eating them isn't as bad as deliberate destruction. At least I know the critters like them... Try not to let this ruin the glory of spring for you ~

O dear spring rain~ I am incandescent with rage on your behalf. What  to do? Could you, would you take some daffodil bulbs to your stupid idiot neighbour next autumn and help the horrible kids to plant them in their own yard?
It's getting late here, gotta get in the shower and get all that itchy haircut debris off me, then slither under the duvet. Nos da, dear people. x
 

Jalopkin-------I'm coming to that dinner on the beach!!  

"Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.” Oh Carl Sagan, every spring we the living precious see what is precious to the precious.

Here in N. Ga, sipping a brandy Alexander, and reading all the good posts! I noticed today that the dogwood are even blooming already and that is usually an April event...Wonder what the Dogwood Festival in April will have to celebrate? Yes,t he pollen is terrible at over 9,000 parts, setting a record. We just grin and bear it, then turn the hose on everything and wash it up....rivers of yellow washed into the yard! Our daffodils are past pretty and about wilted and dried up....Deer don't eat them here. But they will chomp on the new growth on most greens, so I sprayed the perimeter with Liquid Fence (it really works and keeps them off!!) to preserve my daylilies til they bloom in a few weeks.

Just survived my yucky test that puts you to sleep and they send a camera where the sun doesn't shine! Very invasive, but the worst is the day's fasting, liquid diet only the day before, and the prep of that lemon soda stuff you drink! Arghhhh! Anyway, it is over now and all is fine in there, so they said to see them in 5 years....good news...

So, I asked for my favorite dinner out....the Japanese hibachi place with the table cooking and sauteed shrimp, veggies, and sake! Oh, heaven!! It is the best payoff for surviving the old C-oscopy test again! I feel in synch with spring! Glad for a good test and to be alive in our beautiful world.....Hoping some people are inspired to vote, even if you are ambivalent, Peter......We need a shift change in DC!! Need it badly!

LYNN...............congratulations granddad! I bet she's beautiful!
 
STONEY..............your story the other day about the college student/mother was incandescent...................
 
IVAN...................hullllllllllllllllllllllllloooooooooooooooooooooooo! late.................
 
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow......................................

Georgia~ try leaving out the vowels.....we cld prbly stll rd t,nd th wrd cnt my b smllr

Hmmm. I'm a long way from putting in the beans and putting away the sweaters. It's only March! It can snow here in the last weeks of April, and does. Freezes, too.

And it's Leap Year. By the numbers, it is the 21st.

Congratulations to the lucky grandparents! Spring, my sympathies on your destructive neighbors. Regarding the current flow of politics...YUKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!
As for Spring down here in the southwest, I dunno. Kinda scarey. In November we got a freak hail storm that settled right over our little city and decimated so much of the plants, shredded tree leaves and left hail piled up on our lawns and gardens for three days. Unbelievable.
So now, here comes Spring in all it's glory and the temperatures in the low 60's during the day and close to freezing at night. MOTHER NATURE ON PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS!!! Scares me to pieces. Been busy covering up my orchids because we're expecting yet ANOTHER winter storm this weekend.
Ivan...I'm putting up a cabana next to you so save some of the delectables and potables, will ya? Right now, I needs SOOTHING!!

No, hazel.  They rent the house and will more than likely be gone in 6-9 months.  They are transients and beside that, the LIED. . . that's what everyone is doing nowdays. NO one ever does anything wrong. That 's the way it is here.  Do whatever you want, and the LIE about it.  It's the new American dream.