Ahead of Schedule

Here in the Northwoods, we are used to waiting until well past the calendar date for spring to begin.  Snow, sleet, rain and ice are all a part of March and April.  When many folks are planting their gardens, we are still tending seeds in the house. Window washing waits until May. We don't bring out the patio furniture until nearly Memorial weekend.  So when the weather decides to change in the way that it did this week, it really can catch me off guard.

Last week, someone said that it felt like spring outside.  I disagreed, noting that it didn't yet smell that way.  But when the temperatures headed up to the sixties, and now today all the way to seventy, there was no denying it.  It smells, looks, and feels like spring.  I can't recall seeing the snow melt so fast.  We still have the big piles that the plow created, but all the rest just looks like those late-winter dirty patches.  Mud is everywhere.  The birds are singing their new season songs.  A butterfly hatched itself on the porch today.  We even have flies in the air.  I feel like perhaps we've skipped a month, and it really is April 16. 

Our weekly activity of soup and bread in the tent was enjoyed today in tee shirts.  Paul even had shorts on.  We are soaking up the sunshine like it is a long lost friend satisfying our thirst for news.   The pressure ridge on the lake is once again defined, since the snow on top of the ice has melted away.  Could that really have only been two months ago that it first popped up? 

Like the true Minnesotan that I am, however, I refuse to believe that it will all be warm breezes and  blooming crocuses from here on out.  I remember many years ago, heading to town in my best spring outfit, as the days had been behaving just like this.  The next day, we had a huge blizzard, and out came the winter clothes again.  The hardest part is how my body so quickly adapts to the warmth, but does not respond as readily to the downturn.  That can sometimes feel painful.

So I'll enjoy today for what it is, and as the thermometer trends downward next week (as it is predicted to do), I'll keep the sweaters and turtlenecks close by.  The scent of spring can linger as long as it likes.  That is one sweet perfume I wouldn't mind all year long.