Spring

It’s Spring! It’s Spring! It’s Spring! (insert diaper-baby dance here)

Have you noticed? Sunshine. Non-frozen precipitation. Dust in the wind, unfortunately. Better than a blizzard, though, by this time of the year. And pessimism is difficult location to hang onto, right now.

Young men’s thoughts are turning toward seeds and growth. Old men’s thoughts are turning toward finding the lawn chairs. Nothing’s green yet, but the chairs must be out in time to be covered in the elm-flower husks that are already littering. It’s a tradition.

Declan Dog has taken to keeping a day-time vigil. Doesn’t even want to come in for a drink. There are birds to warn about overly exuberant mating. People are out on the streets more, and must be either greeted properly, or challenged to state their business and prove their right to walk in his street. His familiar hollows for sleeping must be re-formed after the winter snows created uncomfortable lumps. Screaming jays and blackbirds must be reminded to use their polite voice. All in all, it’s a great responsibility, leaving him exhausted by evening. My by-the-chair TV partner, has become a lump on the dog couch that moves only if he must rid himself of a day’s worth of water consumed all at once.

My thoughts have turned to seeds, youth not withstanding. But I suspect I will have my usual luck in this baked, dry pottery we call soil. No matter. Hope springs eternal. At least, for today.