Finding golden spring

season’s first dandelion

Photo by J. Harrington

Dandelion blossoms are opening. Marsh marigolds are now in bloom along a rural roadside ditch. Less than a mile further, a pasture full of lambs helps confirm that our long winter nightmare may finally be over. Fields are getting plowed. Trees are growing leaves. Sighs are being heaved.

marsh marigolds now in bloom

Photo by J. Harrington

Last night’s full moon is aptly named Leafing Out Moon (Ojibwe) or Planting Moon (Lakota). Today we are but a minute short of 14 ½ hours of daylight. The afternoon forecast includes thunderstorms. No signs yet of lilac blooms, Baltimore orioles, ruby-throated hummingbirds, but our hopes are high for arrivals this coming week. Meanwhile, one of the downy woodpeckers has been enjoying the sugar water feeder we hung for hummers and orioles. All in all, spring in the North Country this year seems to be running a week or two later than average. (We’re no longer sure there’s any such thing as normal, but average is a numerical calculation.)

Water levels are dropping in local streams and wetlands but few, if any, are less than bank full. As streams drop leaf growth increases. By month’s end the blank spaces between bare branches will be gone. Woodland flowers are only slightly less ephemeral than the entire spring season above 45° north latitude. Enjoy as much of it as you can while it’s here. We’ll soon be “enjoying” days in the mid-80s and up.

Picking a Dandelion

By Quincy Troupe

for Joe and Jill Biden, Cheryl and Charles Ward, and for Margaret

walking along together 

in the nation’s capital 

Joe stopped, stooped, picked a flower—

a dandelion to be exact—

then he handed it to Jill—

who smiled in her white summer, 

dress full of pretty flowers, 

and someone snapped a picture 

of this sweet, simple gesture, 

it revealed something deeper, 

profound, beautiful about 

their love for each other here, 

that taught all of us watching, 

how to reach across time, space, 

with a tender touch, a kiss 

for one another here, now 

in this moment of hatred 

before time on earth runs out

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