Spring Equinox

Some thoughts about spring on its first day:

I love how it is often warm and rarely humid.

I love that bright, shimmering shade of green that new leaves give to old trees.

I love how wildflowers turn ordinary roadsides into vivid profusions of color and life.

I love going swimming with my daughter again.

I love sitting outside in the afternoon and drinking a margarita beneath a cloudless blue sky.

I love spring training baseball.

And finally, I am riveted by the most intense pursuit in all of sports: the NHL playoffs.

Spring re-cap

I think it is always good for people to think about the happy times in life. Near the end of every season I find myself making a mental list of things I did that season, and with one week to go until the official start of summer, my mind is at it again.

Spring of 2010 opened with us having a fantastic time at the Suwannee Springfest Musical Festival, which I already wrote about. Then, in April, we made a few visits to Busch Gardens and Sarah tried to get too friendly with a flamingo.

We took a tour of Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and while we were there Sarah and I had one of my all-time favorite conversations. She asked, "Daddy, in the old days did they have football fields?" and I responded by saying, "That depends on what 'old days' you're talking about" -- to which she responded by saying, "I'm talking about the 1970's."

The weekend before Mother's Day, Sarah and I visited a do-it-yourself pottery place so she could make her own Mother's Day present for Erika. She chose two small statues (a Chihuahua and a giraffe) and painted them without any help from me. She enjoyed the project even though she was sick that day. Because she was obviously not feeling well, I chose not to fight it when she didn't want to brush her hair, and as a result she sported a bit of a Crystal Bowersox look.

We all went blueberry picking one afternoon, and I took this picture of Erika and Sarah on the farm:

And we enjoyed a birthday party for Sarah's friend Brady. It was held at a wildlife rescue known as Nanny's Educational Zoo, and while we were there, Sarah bonded with a baby opossum.

And we had fun "raising" butterflies after Erika ordered caterpillars by mail. The caterpillars fed for several days and then spun cocoons, which we hung in a mesh cage made especially for that purpose. Several days later, five butterflies popped out of the cocoons in a 24-hour span, and two days after that we let them go free.

And, last but certainly not least, Sarah graduated from preschool.

This spring has been very difficult in a number of ways. But as usual, the joys have outweighed the pain, and it is the joys I choose to focus on. Abraham Lincoln observed that "most people are about as happy as they make up their mind to be." If you keep that observation in mind, you will find yourself embracing life and seeing the brightness even on your darkest days.

Spring Equinox

Some thoughts about spring on its first day:

I love how it is often warm and rarely humid.

I love that bright, shimmering shade of green that new leaves give to old trees.

I love how wildflowers turn ordinary roadsides into vivid profusions of color and life.

I love going swimming with my daughter again.

I love sitting outside in the afternoon and drinking a margarita beneath a cloudless blue sky.

I love spring training baseball.

And finally, I am riveted by the most intense pursuit in all of sports: the NHL playoffs.

Spring Equinox

Some thoughts about spring on its first day:

 

I love how it is often warm and rarely humid.

 

I love that bright, shimmering shade of green that new leaves give to old trees.

 

I love how wildflowers turn ordinary roadsides into vivid profusions of color and life.

 

I love going swimming with my daughter again.

 

I love sitting outside in the afternoon and drinking a margarita beneath a cloudless blue sky.

 

I love spring training baseball.

 

And finally, I am riveted by the most intense pursuit in all of sports:  the NHL playoffs.

Glimpses of Spring

March snow has accumulated as far south as central Alabama as this winter of record cold continues to grasp much of the Northern Hemisphere.  But here in Florida, spring has started showing glimpses of itself over the last five days or so. Though it’s cool enough to wear a jacket in the morning, afternoon temperatures are reaching 80 degrees, the strawberry vines are full of fruit, and the azaleas are bursting with so many blossoms you can barely see their leaves.

 

This past Saturday, we took Sarah to her friend Hannah’s fourth birthday party at Bane’s Hydroponic Farm.  The kids picked strawberries under a sky of robin’s egg blue, gobbled down cupcakes, and enjoyed talking to a pot-bellied pig.  It’s incredible how healthy it feels to be outside for hours when there is no humidity to ruin the sun’s warmth.

On Sunday, we went to the Gasparilla Arts Festival in downtown Tampa.  I don’t know how many people were actually buying things, but I am happy to say the festival was crowded despite the tough economic times we’re in.  When we sat down in Gaslight Square, at the southern edge of the festival and within earshot of a band, Sarah was absolutely adorable.  She danced around and around in the grass, staying in sync with whatever the band was playing even though the default move she often used – a pirouette with her arms arched over her head – does not exactly lend itself to covers of Jimmy Buffet and Johnny Cash.  It kills me that we left the camera and camcorder at home and were unable to capture that cuteness for posterity.

 

Some who read this blog probably think I’m obsessed with politics, but I’m not.  I follow politics because I feel a responsibility to be aware of government’s dealings and keep it in check, but at the end of the day I feel a kind of kinship with John Adams, who wrote:  “As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love and admiration.  I long for rural and domestic scenes, for the warbling of birds and the prattling of my children.”