The Very Visible Promise of Spring

It weighs on my heart that I haven't been more diligent in posting on this blog. There are many flashes of inspiration that come and I think, "Yesss! That will make a splendorous blog entry!" Then time creeps up and past and that inspiration from a week ago waves a regretful goodbye.

Then there are also the stirrings and happenings that I just want to hold dear in my own heart and not share with the few that would be inclined to read what I've written. They are my treasures. Why risk the trampling of my exceeding lovely, iridescent pearls? (Sorry to intimate that some of you may be of the swine variety...Matthew 7:6.) But really, if I am worried about that, why indeed have I started a blog?

So here is one joy that has caused me to laugh and leap about lately: the very visible promise of Spring. Near to the official start of Fall, a charming old man put hand to ear and asked with a gleam in his eye, "Hear that? It's the sound of the crocuses coming up. Spring's right around the corner!" Now, that comment was a bit overly optimistic even for me, being still a whole season away from the dark barrenness of Winter. Now the calendar states that finally the first day of that dreary, disconsolate season is upon us, but guess O guess what I just saw at Save On Foods? Bulb planters! Yes, the primulas are shining their bright funny faces at us and I believe that Spring's right around the corner!

There is evidence everywhere. I've always known that rhododendrons put out their flower buds right after they finish blooming. Those buds stand dormant for nigh to a whole year before they open and dazzle us with feminine colour and delight. But there are more dormant buds and hopeful shoots every which way! Check out some of the supposedly dead, bare branches on various trees next time you're out on a walk. They are primed and ready for the increase of light leading to the eventual full flourishing of fruit!

So, I can call Winter dreary and disconsolate, but know that I don't entirely mean it. It's really been one of the driest, least grey Fall seasons we've ever had, or so it seems, and I have my own hypothesis as to an explanation for that. And even if Winter turns sour and bitter and rains down on us that true Vancouver rain (i.e. rain that drizzles miserably for 2+ weeks straight), we can take heart in the very visible promise of Spring. The evidence is everywhere - for those who have eyes to see, that is.