Springspringspring

Over the last seven days spring sprung! A week ago there was a faint haze of spring green in some trees, daffodils were blooming in pockets of sunny warmth, and the days and nights were quite warm.

A few days later, the Bradford pear tree buds were opening to create a slight haze of white; the greening of other trees was more noticeable; and I discovered my daylilies had thrust the tips of leaves out of the soil. Then I noticed new rosettes of coreopsis and quite a lot of new growth of the Mexican hat and Indian paintbrush. Around town there were hints of color as well: yellow scattered across forsythia, deep reddish pink speckling quince, and broad patches of purple blooms across untended grassy expanses that themselves were greening up rapidly. At church we noticed a pussy willow just bursting with dove-gray catkins, and new leaves on the rose bushes. At dear husband's building, big strong leaves of what can only be tulips were well out of the soil. The daytime temperatures swung back and forth, in and out of balmy early-spring days, and we got a few days of a lot of rain; I suspect that was the final required ingredient for a big burst of change. All this time the birds had become a familiar sight again, as they sought nesting places and bustled about with their springtime tasks.

About three days ago the pear trees all along our street had reached full bloom, and even showed a bit of green as the leaves began to grow. It slowly sunk in that spring had sprung! Blazes of spring color all around town! Forsythia bursting with yellow, quince full of that deep red pink, redbud branches and twigs fuzzy with tiny red flowers, big soft-pink cup flowers held on all the leafless branches of Japanese magnolias, and, at last, our river birches sporting a bit of green in the upper reaches. Those tulips? Yesterday we noticed big green buds amid the leaves, full of promise. There is a particular flowering tree I must drive by this week; I don't want to miss its stunning, unusual spring color. I've never seen another flowering tree color like it, a sort of quince-like deep red-pink.

Here's another bit of spring: the boys have returned to playing outside often and for long periods of time most days. In fact, they're at the park behind our house right now. Our part of the world is responding to warmth and rain and sun -- not that we couldn't have an Oklahoma late-spring ice storm or snow, but another hallmark of spring is changeable weather. Spring has indeed sprung, hurrah, hurrah!