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| a pair of swans at the Sunrise River pools in March
Photo by J. Harrington
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At one of the open leads on the South side of the road were a pair of swans. Seeing them got me almost as excited as the times when I was a child in Boston that we got to take the first Swanboat ride of the year in the Public Garden, although that season doesn't start for another five or six weeks. Returning from my morning errands, I slowed to take a closer look at the pools to see who might be there. No one was visible South of the road, but there were on the North side, sitting in some of the larger stretches of open water, or walking on the ice shelf next to that water, half a dozen or so swans. These are the second sign that Spring is arriving.
One of my errands took me to the local big box grocery store. The seasonal display of Easter candies was being set up as I walked past. Since I can resist anything except temptation (Groucho Marx or W. C. Fields?) I had to see if Cadbury creme eggs had been put out. They were. I added two boxes to my small collection of necessaries. Then, upon arriving home and unpacking, I ate the first Cadbury egg of this year's Easter season. That's the third sign. Soon it will be time to bring out the Easter decorations for the table. Are peeps as much a sign of Easter as Cadbury eggs?
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| soon we'll break out Easter decorations
Photo by J. Harrington
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We've already enjoyed our first 50℉ day here in the North Country. If the forecast for Sunday is correct, we'll get to enjoy our first 60℉ of the season. It's been our observation that Mother Nature delivers a decent Spring here in Minnesota about once every decade or two. This could be one of those years. Even if it doesn't turn out that way, remember that, despite CORVID-19, "presidential" politics, the incompetent regime in D.C., a volatile stock market to match our Spring weather, the sun rises each day, whether we see it or not. Spring arrives eventually some time at or after the start of daylight savings time (Spring forward!). Life goes on (Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da).
The Swan
by Mary Oliver
Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?
Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air -
An armful of white blossoms,
A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned
into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,
Biting the air with its black beak?
Did you hear it, fluting and whistling
A shrill dark music - like the rain pelting the trees - like a waterfall
Knifing down the black ledges?
And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds -
A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet
Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?
And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?
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Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.
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