With luck the last of the white stuff is gone. Mother Nature, in a never-ending quest to be the scourge of forecasters, is now on a fast track to green up.
The old long underwear is off and headed to the Hazmat disposal site. Even in-laws are looking good. Dogs seem to recognize that this is the start of something good: spring. Hello, mud puddles.
The car washers will find plenty of business as everyone washes the winter grime off the body. Body shops have ordered the work order papers in triplicate and window cleaners are cashing in. Spring is here.
In yards large and small, early crocuses and narcissus are popping out of the ground. These will be followed by hyacinths. tulips and fiddleheads. The first green vegetable will soon be sending up its namesake head in a swamp nearby. Rhubarb, too, will follow, with the stalks bright, red and tangy. And with this will come discussions over coffee of the pussy willows and leaves popping out. A look at the horizon, and layers of green go up the hills.
Cute chicks are peeping their way into yards and barns along with the collection of foals, colts, calves and babes. Yes, spring has finally arrived.
Ducklings and goslings are soon to follow and the robins will continue to produce blue eggs. Wild turkeys and grouse are building nests for their clutches of youngsters and the deer are enjoying those trees and shrubs planted last summer.
So it’s springtime in The County. Somehow the ground survived and there are plenty of signs that all is good in the world. It’s time to take a breath, think a small thought for a better day, then enjoy the sunshine. Pour on the heat, because summer is long overdue.
Orpheus Allison is a photojournalist living in The County who graduated from UMPI and earned a master of liberal arts degree from the University of North Carolina. He began his journalism career at WAGM television later working in many different areas of the US. After 20 years of television he changed careers and taught in China and Korea.
