In Wyoming, where I’m from originally, spring is blooming. “Bursting” may be more like it. Just the other day, my dad described the way the color is starting to creep into the lower country, bright blues and greens that glimmer with the sheen of run-off water, while up high, the peaks are still capped in white.
Copyright 2009, Kate Meadows, Sublette County, WY.
One thing I am missing so much about the Rockies right now is spring time – how everything just bursts open with color after such a long and cold winter season. It’s like the world is waking up again after a blistering cold hibernation, and all who live there get to be witnesses. You feel like you’ve “earned it” somehow, having experienced that long hibernation yourself. When the world opens itself up again, there you are to breathe it in.
I remember this time of year when I was growing up, how it was always such a season of renewal. I broke out my journal for a new list of goals. I was ready to pull on running shorts and start running outside in the mornings, no matter how cold it was because, hey, summer was just around the corner. I remember the totally unique and striking contrast of getting into a snowball fight high up in the mountains and then seeking the strong, warm sun to warm up again.
In Wyoming this time of year, beauty happens. And it’s easy to see.
Spring happens in southern California – just a lot more subtly. You have to intentionally look for it: the trees greening up a bit, some flowers restoring a more vibrant color, a more intense rainy season. Maybe the birds sing a bit more intensely, with a renewed fervor.
But here there is no feeling of reward, no feeling of having earned a warm, bright season because, really, the sun shines here all the time. After all, this is the golden state.
Copyright 2009, Kate Meadows, Yellowstone National Park, WY.
What are your “best moments” of spring? What memories does springtime evoke for you?
Here today, the sun is hiding. We are in what California folk call “May Gray.” (This is to be followed by “June Gloom.” Boo hoo.) I miss that clear view of the blue-grey mountains waking up to the warmer months. I am homesick, but so happy to have those crisp memories to which I cling so tightly.