Happy Saint Patircks Day & the approaching Spring

The traditional pathway that we once counted on, March - In like a Lion, out like a Lamb. April showers bring May flowers, etc... has not been followed by Mother Nature for more than a decade. Sure, you would always have those extended periods of cold weather or showers that extended into the month of June. But the axiom was nevertheless a given.

This Winter in New England did appear more traditional with snow early and many substantial storms. More like those that I experienced as a small boy growing up in a small New England town. So, it is with great hope that we will have a long missed traditional Spring. You know the kind. After a hard winter, you are blessed with the gift of bright sunshine, mud, melting snow and birds of all kinds singing in unison.

As I walked this afternoon, the melting snow that formed little streams upon the side of the road brought back memories of my childhood. We lived on the top of a small hill. The melting snows would accumulate and roll towards the bottom. That which missed the catch basin due to the stream being wider than the drain opening would continue downward towards the Field above the river.

When I was younger than ten or eleven years old, we would take the remaining snow and make large Hoover Dams and hold back the water until much of the street was flooded. An occasional car would pas by and they would often humor us and pass by slowly. (Boy, times have changed!) We would build little snow houses below the dam and let the water build with our anticipation. We would place a small indent into our snow structure, letting the weight of the water and the fractured dam do its thing.

With great fanfare we would watch the water flood the street and gorge the drain with water too vast to be swallowed. Great fun for little boys!

You can feel Spring in the air. Mud on your shoes. Birds are singing. The Sun warms you quickly. Is that too much to hope for?