Spring!

It's blooming down here in Dixie!  Everywhere I look...Forsythia, Red Bud, Bradford Pear, Flowering Cherry, Dogwood (my favorite), Spirea....even the humble Clover that resides in my front yard.  This is my favorite thing about springtime.  It's like a fashion show and even though this particular event happens every year, the Designer has a way of making it new and exciting.  I've never been, but it has be better than anything you can see under the tents at Bryant Park!

Of course, with all of this, the pollen showers are not far behind.  I've been noticing that the pine trees are HEAVY with their buds...and when they begin to bloom, the pollen will blow in great sheets.  It's really gross.  Everything that is stationary becomes covered in this bright, techno yellow-green coating.  And when it rains, you see that same yellow-green running in stripes along the pavement edge.  When we lived in SMALLtown, GA, when the Pecan trees tassled out....everyone took cover.  Those things produce more pollen than anything I've ever seen before.  When Y1 was a wee baby, the pollen from the Pecan trees would make his little eyes get all gooey and irritated.  He never was a wee baby...coming in at almost ten pounds when he was born....nearly thirty by his first birthday...but it's a sweet thing to say.

Other signs of spring's arrival in Dixie....freshly pedicured feet, toe rings, sandals, white shoes, white pants and WHITE legs!  I mean some so white they are BLINDING!  Brings me great comfort to realize that I'm not the absolute palest.  I'm not one for tanning...via God's sunlamp or that of the local human BBQ parlor (translation=tanning salon), so the pale remains throughout the warm weather months.  There might be just a hint of sun kissed glow, earned from exposure while doing something outdoors but I've never enjoyed laying out.  Makes me feel rather like one of the many Sunday chickens I've oven roasted.

I understand that spring has not been quite so loud and proud in other parts of the country.  As I traveled to Michigan for Aunt Jewell's funeral, there were snow flurries at the AL/TN line and snowy patches along I-65 through southern Indiana.  So, to my readers in that part of the world.  Take heart, my winter weary friends!  Spring can't be far away.  The migration has started and that's always a sure sign.  No, not the robins!  Although, I have heard of robin sightings in some areas.  The annual northward migration of which I speak, is that of the Snowbirds!  Vans, trucks pulling trailers, RV's pulling cars....all with tags from various Mid-Western locations...have left their winter havens behind for the annual journey home.  (Chicken hearts....can't stand the blistering heat of WayDownSouth summers!)

I try to revel in these lovely days of early spring...because all to quickly, they will give way to summer's unforgiving scorn.  And when those day's arrive, I just let this thought rattle around in my alleged mind..."We have A/C...because we pay the power bill...because Mr. Snark has a job...and when I pay my power bill, they can pay Mr. Snark....and we can have A/C...because we pay our power bill!"

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