Ah, spring, you’re here. Hopefully, you have come in time to save the people of East Central Minnesota from the winter malady which has, of lately, manifested itself in anger, impatience, orneriness, stubbornness and spite.
We waited long for you. We shoveled dutifully for months, we scraped frost from the windshield.
We bought bird seed by the ton because your seasonal cohort continued to cover the ground where our returning feathered friends might find some nourishment.
We haven’t even begun to think of packing away our sweaters and boots. Mittens and scarves lay at the ready on our banisters.
The tulips and crocuses have poked their heads up and retreated repeatedly. You know they just might have said the heck with it, but that was last weekend.
For, alas, Monday came with 60 degree temperatures. I saw it on the sign, and unless this is a belated April Fool’s joke, spring, you are indeed, finally here.
I heard you and saw you Monday night as I drove around town between my day in the office and the North Branch City Council.
I didn’t even want to leave you to spend hours more inside when you were dancing around so gleefully on the other side of the brick walls.
Over on Glacier, spring peepers were serenading the neighborhood (OK, we all know what they were really doing).
Finally rid of gloves, lovers walked hand-in-hand down the street. After all, it is April, and those of you who will, remember Pat Boone’s engaging tune on the subject.
Over on the Sunrise Prairie Trail, folks who had stumbled over the remains of the wood pile were biking and hiking and walking dogs. Folks were jogging again, passing each other with smiles on their faces. Remember smiles? Kids circled their parents on the trail on those little two-wheel scooters ecstatic to see the proverbial robins hopping alongside the pathway.
The sound of windchimes tantalized the ears in the area near Branch Avenue, I could swear they were singing “welcome dear spring” in their hauntingly sensuous tones.
Hillary and Barack may be at each other’s throats, gas prices may go up another nickel, we may still have to take out a loan to buy a dozen eggs, the North Branch City Council may still have a pile of issues to address ... ah, but spring, you have arrived.
And it’s about time (sorry, just a little bit of that crankiness left in me).
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