Spring, in general

         Spring in Maine is really a funny thing. It can be lovely and awful at the same time. This being said, there are many more things that I like about spring rather than dislike, for instance, when the snow has all melted, and when the first buds on the willows start to show. They remind me of something Bob Ross would have painted with a dry big round brush, more yellow than green, almost like a glowing halo sitting atop the bare branches. I also get very excited when certain wildflowers start to bloom, I feel the need to point them out to anyone I might be with. First are the Stinking Benjamin's (Purple Trillium) There are literally hundreds of them in the woods line around the house. Everything else is mostly gray and brown at this point, so it is extra exciting to see the carpets of these woodland flowers make their way up through the earth.

       Gray and brown are two of the things that can tend to make spring more on the awful side. The mud and the bare branches, although a change in scenery from the dirty snow can tend to wear out their welcome rather quickly.  There are times when it feels like years from the end of the last bits of snow until the time when all of the leaves and lawns turn green. It's not actually the colors themselves, its the anticipation, and the waiting that can be so hard to handle. There are things that make it somewhat easier- making maple syrup for example, or pawing through seed catalogues and planning out a garden, but most of the time, no matter what you do,  it still feels like ages for spring to really happen.

    And once it happens, it happens so fast, you almost can't remember that it wasn't this way all along!