It is not easy living in a climate like ours.  It is cold and grey for five months of the year, wet and cold for three months of the year, extremely hot for two months of the year, and then there is September and May.   In September, the trees turn colour, the nights are cool, and the days are warm, but you know that winter is coming.  But  May is the opposite! 

After months of biting cold weather, bare trees, and frozen ground, the natural world comes alive.  The air smells rich and sweet of soil, grass and flowers.   The bare bones of trees and bushes fill out with colourful blossoms; white and pink on apple and plum  trees, huge pink flowers on magnolias, purple  blossoms on crabapple trees, wispy yellow flowers on birch and maple trees, brilliant yellow on forsythia bushes.  For two weeks, our streets, yards and woods are filled with splashes of colour.   It is glorious and fleeting! 

In these few weeks of Spring, the world outside seems to change daily; flowers push up through the soil and blossom against cold, hard soil; tulips, daffodils, snow drops, violets, spring beauties, violets and may-apple.  The colour of trees change daily as flowers bloom and then give way to leaves.  The grass, that was dead and the colour of straw, turns emerald-green almost overnight.  The world is awash in colour once more! 

The world is also full of sound.  In the winter, the world is quiet.  The sound is muffled by the blanket of frozen water.  But even without the snow, the natural world is quiet.  Most birds migrate to warmer climates and many animals hibernate.  A few, such as the Deer, become more bold as hunger drives them into our yards.  But with spring, the birds return and the frogs emerge with a rich cacophony of sound.  The Spring Peepers chirp at night; the Redwing Blackbirds fill the marshlands with their con-ker-chee; the  Kingfisher calls as it fishes over the river; a House Wren and Yellow Warbler call persistently from a tangle all day long;  the Robins, with their orange-red breasts, sing a haunting tune from the branches at dusk. 

Each day brings new treats for us.  The Turkey Vultures play on the thermals when they to the north. The Swans float gracefully at the bend on the river.  The Mallards, with their iridescent green heads, paddle in the ponds in the lowlands.  The Canada Geese aresitting on nests in the tall grasses near the marsh.  The Chickadees and House Finches steal drinks from our backyard pond. The Deer, that have survived a long hard winter, have turned red-brown with the change of season.

The natural world isreborn once more; we are bathed in sensual delights.  We are reminded of the rebirth that follows death; of the resilience of the earth; of our connection to the natural world; and our soul’s love of nature.

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