It’s Officially Spring!

Happy first day of Spring, everyone! Yahoo! Though the calendar is giving this official announcement, there’s only a little evidence of it at 8,500’. The grass is turning green a little around the edges, the sun is shining with a gentle breeze but no flowers have popped out yet. They still seem asleep. They’re smart. They know how fickle the weather can be at this time of year. Just when you start settling in to think no more winter, here come the snowflakes.

Here are some photos of flowers I planted last year on my deck and a spring shower rainbow. Maybe, that will help us hold on until birds start chirping, the days get warmer and there’s no longer a potential for a cold blast of winter. I’m truly looking forward to it. Enjoy and hope it stirs the feeling of spring and what’s soon to come. Continue reading

Arbor Day – April 25th

Today, at lunch time, I got out and took a walk around a park not far from work. If those old trees could talk, I wonder what stories they would tell of times past and the people they saw and the changes they bore.

It felt good to shed some of those winter garments and breathe in some fresh air. The trees are starting to bud and some of the crab apple trees are already in blossom dressed in pinks and whites. I caught a drift of the scent of those blossoms as I walked out of the building. Ahhhh.

(Photos by Microsoft Clipart) ~ What a beautiful time of the year, Spring, when everything begins to awaken from the long months of rest over the winter. The sky seems brighter and you can hear the birds chirping louder in the morning as if they’re calling up the sun. Earth shows its life force in the change of seasons – in Spring with endurance coming back from winter and vulnerability in the Fall when it gives in to dormancy and rest.

Arbor Day is officially recognized the last Friday in April and people all around celebrate by planting a tree.

I remember one year we got 10 free Colorado Spruce trees for becoming a member to the Arbor Day Foundation. We had 8 of them going strong until we had to transplant them. We had started them in the wrong place behind our shed and they were growing fast.

We only have 2 left after transplanting but they are doing well – about 2-1/2 feet tall. Not bad from small beginnings as a suckling in the Rocky Mountains. One day, I hope to see them grow tall enough to decorate for Christmas.

It makes me wonder – one group is encouraging the planting of trees while the other group is thinning forests and mitigating. I hope they all are in balance in what it is they’re promoting.

With all that humans have done to disrupt the natural cycles, it is all the more fitting for more of us to join in and give our support to turn things around and support Nature and this beautiful planet on which we live.

So, go plant a tree, rake up the grass, clean out the flower beds, get your hands dirty and smell the earth.

With Nature doing its job of stirring and waking up, the reflections of books read and lessons learned also begin to rise in my Spirit. I’m connected to the awakening process of this season and the stirrings within my soul. I’m excited for the new growth and fresh beginnings.

It’s a new season. Look all around, you can see the signs and you can also see the secret language within emerging in this new awakening.

Pat from the ol’ kitchen table