Monday, March 5, 2012

Coming and going

Spring comes and goes at this time of year.  One day I hear a robin, the next day there's snowstorm.  One day, the snowdrops are blooming, the next day they are buried in the snow.  No matter, they'll be back in a few days.

Even before I started this blog, I wrote a weekly column, first for a newspaper, then through e-mails with subscribers. This gives me a record of springs going back over twenty years. Because of those accounts, I know that one year ago, Gary brought the lawn chairs from storage so we could sit in the sun on the deck. Ten years ago on this date,we were over at Van Patten Road to watch the first flocks of Canada geese land.  The next day, we were hit with a blizzard.

Fifteen years ago, we were at the Rawley Point lighthouse near Two Rivers, staying in the keepers cottage with our friends Karen and Pete.  That morning, I was wading through newly fallen snow and ice boulders formed along Lake Michigan.  It wasn't spring yet, but the lake had melted.

Today, I walked past snowbanks on my errands, yet tomorrow the daily temperature could climb to 50 degrees and remain so until the weekend.

Yes, spring comes in starts and stops.  No two of them are exactly alike.



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