Wednesday, November 4, 2009

already longing for spring





The last roses of the season bloom in the autumn air. The dogs run in the back yard, barking their little fool heads off at a squirrel, a bird, the neighbors' dogs, or perhaps a passing pedestrian. The mornings are cool, the afternoons warm, and the nights clear and cold.



Autumn always incites a bit of longing in me. While I enjoy the cooler weather, the shortened days do not agree with me, the bleak winter looms, and my beautiful vegetation begins to succumb to the cool of the night. Already, I've lost my clematis, the lantana, the candymint, and the prairie daisies. The cool crept up quietly, gradually and nearly unnoticed, and I think my gardenia bloomed its last this summer.



From November to February, I live for the spring. Christmas hasn't held much excitement for me since the days of my youth. As an adult, the holidays are too often spoiled by the rushing, the tension, and the hassle. As I woke this morning, I heard birdsong in the back yard through the window above the bed. In the dawning morning, the sound of the bird singing sweetly filled my head with visions of greening grass and blooming flowers. Only upon full awakening did I remember the date.



But the promise of the coming spring, so near and yet still distant, will sustain me through the dark months, keep me hoping and longing for the new life that will surely greet me there. I'll pass the winter reading, planning, and yearning for the moment the crocus peeks through the cold January ground, a harbinger of the delicious spring joy only weeks away.



I'd never make it in Minnesota.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

So how would you do in Maine? I have to agree with much of what you say. The problem here in Maine is that much of our spring can look so much like winter, too.

I do like to paint winter scenes...I just don't like shoveling it or trying to stay warm in it. And the days are much, much too short!

Faye said...

To see winter coming on is a hard thing for serious gardener's like you, I'm sure. But just think, right after Christmas the seed and plant catalogs start arriving in the mail so you can start plotting and planning. For me, I love winter--the cold, the retreating. But I couldn't do MN either!

laurie said...

the moment the crocus peeks through the cold January ground...

try the cold April ground.

Beth said...

Ach! I was going to say exactly what Laurie did! Saw someone sweeping snow off their car this morning - we didn't have any in the city but obviously it fell somewhere. Which is not to be unsympathetic - the lack of light and the colder days when nothing's growing affect all of us, no matter how far north (or south) we live. Hang in there!

Pamela said...

I saw snow once more on the top of the Blues.

But the Wooley Worm says it will be a mild winter. And Wooley Worm knows.

(The Farmer's Almanac said the same thing. For the West coast. But the middle of the country needs to get ear muffs. Sorry)

Kim said...

Hi, Brian. Thanks for reading. Maine? Is it cold there? I don't really do cold well.

Faye, I do hate it because of all the lovely plants I have to say goodbye to, but also, I really hate the cold. Really hate it. I almost died in Topeka, and it's not really all that cold there.

No thank you, Laurie. That is why I know without a doubt I would not make it in Minnesota. No crocus until April? That's hell.

Beth, we rarely have snow that stays on, and we rarely have snow until January. I'm a baby when it comes to the cold.

I'm coming to see you, Pamela.

Stephanie, Mama Dramatist said...

We only get snow once a mellenium here!

And ... you are a poet, my dear!