mixed feelings
when walking inside from another round of snow
and being greeted by a 4th of july display
at least i have my sandals on
with my long down coat
and i am ready for anything.
“there are certain odd times and occasions
in this strange mixed affair we call life
when a man takes his whole universe for a vast practical joke.”
-herman melville
hope springs eternal
and
as the snow returns once more
i hope for eternal spring
or for even just a month of it.
—
“in the spring,
i have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.”
-mark twain
—
image credit: flower power gnome – magic onions
on the spring equinox
—
Today
if ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze
that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house
and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,
a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies
seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking
a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,
releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage
so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting
into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.
– billy collins
—
art credit: Francesca Rizzato Art
arklow, county wicklow, ireland
on the irish sea, summer 2016
==
“st. patrick’s day is an enchanted time –
a day to begin transforming winter’s dreams into summer magic.”
-adrienne cook
march.
storming in like a buffalo
and out like a wing?
“february makes a bridge and march breaks it. “
– Witts Recreations, Selected from the Finest Fancies of Moderne Muses, with a Thousand Outlandish Proverbs (edited by George Herbert, 1593–1633)
==
image credit: tom murphy, Yellowstone Park Buffalo, “Frozen Snow”
a glimpse into the real story behind the legend.
the groundhog
stays up all night
trying to calculate
exactly when spring will arrive
and is exhausted
when they wake him up
to bring him out
early in the morning
for his official prediction
each february 2nd
on groundhog day.
—
“i’m so tired…i was up all night trying to round off infinity.”
-steven wright
“spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.
summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.
autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.
winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”
-yoko ono
—
argo pond at argo park, ann arbor, michigan, usa – summer 2017
