Today is the first day of spring! For those of you in northern climates you are probably rejoicing right now. It’s finally getting warmer, the snows are gone for good (you hope, especially those of you in Canada), the crocuses and daffodils and other spring flowers are blooming, the redbuds are blooming, the trees are leafing out, and poetry is in your soul. Well, I don’t know about you, but spring always makes me want to write a poem even though I’m a lousy poet. So I will spare you one of my poems. I wouldn’t want to spoil this day for you.
Oh, I forgot one other sign of spring. The robins are back. That was always my favorite sign of spring. (My least favorite being dandylions.) The robins always come first of all the birds. They come when it’s stil cold out and sometimes still snow on the ground. For the first week or so you see them walking around their feathers fluffed up to keep warm, looking like little brown and red fluffy balls. You wonder, “Why didn’t you stay south for an extra week, bird? Didn’t you know it was still cold here?” But then it warms up, and they are fine. I always liked to look for them. For me sighting the first robin of spring was a moment to celebrate. For me that signalled the end of winter (much more so than some groundhog in February) and the beginning of spring. Sometimes I like to think that the robins brought spring; that if they didn’t come back then spring wouldn’t come. I like robins. I think they’re my favorite bird.
There are no robins in Bahrain. But we do have flowers. The red and purple and white petunias around base are particularly pretty. And we have warm weather. It’s still a little cool in the mornings, but by midday it warms up so that you can run around in a short-sleeved shirt and be comfortable. That is, to me. Other people say it’s hot. I say to them, “Just wait.” After last summer, it’s not hot unless sweat is running down your back and your face at the same time less than five minutes after you step outside and you feel like you need to drink a gallon of water a day.
But right now it’s absolutely beautiful weather. I’m really enjoying this time of year. Of course, spring is my favorite time of year. Oh, correction to above: if in Illinois my least favorite part of spring is rain. It doesn’t just rain in Illinois; it rains for two to three weeks straight–every day. That gets old, real fast. But otherwise, it’s beautiful. And there are lots of robins.
Happy spring, everyone!
What do you like about spring?
