Historical April 1991 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
One morning you step out your door and sense a change in the air.
The day may not look any different than any other pleasant winter day, but you feel there’s something stirring. It’s a subtle sense of green buds rousing deep. You peer at the trees, searching for that green haze which signals the start of spring, and see the same bare branches you’ve seen since the leaves fell last fall.
But you feel it anyway; like a cat after a cozy nap, things are stretching languidly, getting ready. You feel yourself stretching too, responding to nature’s gentle pull. Gone are all those resolutions for chores and errands, all those house-bound tasks clamoring for attention.
A day like this requires a walk, a tour around the neighborhood, a stirring in the blood. First a tour of your place. What’s poking up through the leaf mold and debris?
The daffodils knew; they’ve been doing their own stretching, reaching up to the thin sun.
There are little tips scattered all around, unnoticed until you stopped to look.
Then off you stroll down the street, breathing deep, arms swinging. You feel an awakened sense of aliveness. Across the street a neighbor’s lawn is suddenly covered with pale lavender—crocuses everywhere.
A forsythia’s buds are swelling.
A closer look shows a hint of yellow just inside.
A few houses away a yard is strewn with brilliance, a king’s ransom of purple and yellow—more crocuses sending their message of spring’s promises.
Now you see your neighbors out on porches, walking like you, kids running and jumping in the sun. Who is that little boy scampering across the yard—surely not the baby you remember seeing in his stroller last fall? There’s Mrs. Smith already puttering around her yard, calling to ask how you are. People greet each other, catching up on the news. Freed from winter’s confines people as well as buds are reaching out to warmth. Between the cold of winter and the bustle of summer, spring’s beginnings are a welcome hiatus. It’s a time to stretch ourselves, easily and comfortably like the season; rousing us to enjoy our neighborhoods, renew old friendships and meet new neighbors.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April 1991.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1991_04.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 7.
