Signs of Spring . . . Finally!

 Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. ~Doug Larson

Spring arrived almost a month late this year in northern Minnesota, but it is finally here!  Some say is our payback for Spring showing up a month early last year, I am just glad it is here and to finally be rid of the snow.

Like any ordinary Spring, the birds were the first signs of its arrival. There was still snow when the birds arrived a week or two ago, so many of our summer bird residents were taken by surprise by the harsh conditions. Plus, they still had some competition for food from the winter birds that had not left to go north and the “tourist birds” that just briefly pass through in the Spring. The feeders were an extra busy place for a few weeks. As were the small areas of visible ground along the roads and a few patches in the fields – the birds had to hunt for food. One day, I caught a large group of bald eagles (4 adults-6 young) taking in a day of ice fishing through a hole on my icy, but melting lake.

The woodpeckers fill the woods with their drumming battles for territory and still are (my metal mailbox seems to be a favorite drum this year). The swans, ducks, loons and geese waited for weeks on the rivers for the ice on the lakes to come off … sending scouts out daily to check the lakes. They did an excellent job as the first day the ice was out on my lake the loons were down there singing (I love that sound).

As soon as the ice and snow disappeared, the first appearances of the hibernators began. Along the roads, the skunks and porcupines are currently looking for food. On the lakes and streams, the beavers have begun building repairs. In my yard, the chipmunks and my nuisance woodchucks (which I have complained about here many times) are nosing their way through the fall leaves looking for seeds and new roots. The goldfinches are gold again and the fly catchers have returned to their nest. The trees are full of bird song, the tree leaf buds are finally appearing in the much-needed rain we are getting this weekend. There are pussy willows of all sorts everywhere and patches of green grass. I saw a mosquito (just one) but, it reminds me that not all the parts of Spring are desirable

As you can see, there are still some sites that make the woods appear Fall-like, but they are disappearing fast.

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Spring brings life back to the Northwoods … and brighter spirits! (The fact that school is almost out might have something to do with that, too. )   (More Spring Pictures – at my PhotoBlog – Bear In Sight)

Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!” ~Robin Williams

Time . . .

When all is said and done, the weather and love are the two elements about which one can never be sure. ~Alice Hoffman
Time.

Technically speaking … no one can make time, change time, find time, gain time, lose time, or make time stand still. Time is on a constant progression that we can do nothing about. It is the one thing that you can plan on, time does not stop (at least not yet).

The human desire to effect time is also a constant. Our daily needs to hurry up, slow down, wait a minute, give me a second, stop … are persistent reminders of that fact. “Lost time is never found again.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

However, circumstances in life can cause time delusions. For instance, the weather has some how made us Minnesotans lose time this Spring. I was taken by surprise last week when a student was excitedly talking about only 20 days left of school. What! 20 days, no way! They had to be wrong, there is so much left to do!  Guess what?  Students are never wrong about when school gets out for the summer.

The cold temperatures and piles of snow all around us, had us sedated through the months of March and April. I believe our minds were protecting us from the emotional damage 6 months of snowy weather can do. A powerful factor supporting this time delusion that it was still March (in April), was the lack of normal Spring events … ie;  Students were not begging to work outside.  There were no baseball games, track meets, or golf meets.  Students were not wearing inappropriate summer clothing to school, we still needed winter coats and boots. Out of school we were still shoveling snow, skiing, driving snowmobiles, ice fishing, etc …  all of these circumstances stalled time in our minds.

On Sunday, most of us were awakened from our winter slumbers. It was the first day that actually felt and looked like Spring. 50º temperatures for the first time since October, a warm snow melting sun, big puddles, no heavy winter coat needed … it still looks like winter because there is just too much of that darn white stuff piled all around, but it finally feels like Spring has arrived. It is also painfully obvious that we have lost a month of time somewhere (obviously not physically, but mentally … just in case you were wondering how sane I really am today )

We know in our hearts Spring has to come eventually or maybe Summer will rush in and beat up Spring. Visually, we can see the variety of birds that have come back all at once (they were tired of waiting for Spring, too) and are desperately searching for food in the melting snow banks. The piles of snow are sinking daily, the daylight hours are growing, the tree buds are forming … However it is Prom weekend at school with rain/snow showers and a high of 40º … It just does not seem right somehow .. time wise … shouldn’t the grass be visible and green?

Time apparently is messed up (in my mind)!

I found some small signs of Spring … check them out on my photo blog:  In Search of Spring …

In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours. ~ Mark Twain

Photo Challenge: Looking Up

I am looking up to the skies very often these days … it is the only direction without snow. Well, actually, there is usually no snow up there by late afternoon. It is still snowing most days, the heavy sticky kind. The tree tops melt or the snow falls down in the wind with big plopping sounds. Yesterday was amazing .. the skies cleared for the first time in ages and offered us an “up” view that had us imagining Spring might actually be in the future for us.

Here is my picture for this week’s photo challenge.

There are other reasons to “look up” these late wintry days … the birds are coming back. The woods are coming alive with bird songs. Although I miss those songs a lot … I wonder what the birds are thinking … it is cold and there is no seasonal food for them.

Without leaves, the birds are much easier to see and photograph. Check out my photo blog if you are a birder … I need some help with identification. It is a common bird here, I would like to know its name. (Bear in Sight PhotoBlog)

SNOW … a nasty 4-letter word in April

Inspiration to take photos and write a new post is hard for me to find. I blame it on the weather. In Minnesota, we somehow got stuck in the month of February weather-wise, nothing has changed. It is white with snow, deep snow and tall snow piles … where ever you look. Slow melting is taking place, but its hard to see. I have only found a small sign of Spring when I looked up (at my photo blog).

We just had a setback … it snowed again yesterday .. about 4 inches (maybe more, it was the wet heavy stuff and some melted as it hit the roadways).

It is hard to believe that last year at this time we had green grass and warm weather. Although I love seeing all of your pictures of Spring, flowers, and things not white … jealousy and frustrations rise a little bit when see realize that signs of Spring I am yearning for are still a long wait. I have run out of desire for photographing snow.

However, since I am a Minnesotan and we are known to be “hardy”, resilient and try to look for the good in all things … even winter and snow in April. I have resorted to “painting” some of my snow pictures in PhotoShop with spring colors. And, sometimes I psychologically trick myself into thinking that I am taking pictures of things other than snow … like my “shadow paint” pictures the other day when the sun peeked out.

At school, the golf team, baseball team, softball team, and track team are practicing indoors wherever they can find space (the halls can be a dangerous place after school if you don’t look for flying practice golf balls or a sprinter). Sometimes we joke about the situation … like golfing in snowshoes this year with big neon wiffle balls. At other times, these same creative Minnesotans develop plans to fight the weather together and fix the situation. For example, the athletes have spent several practice sessions outdoors shoveling the 3+ feet of snow off the track and baseball diamonds and hauling the snow away in otter sleds. It is a good workout … and gives them a small bit of hope that when the weather decides to change to Spring, it will melt off fast enough to get in a game or match before the end of school a short 7 weeks away. There is some satisfaction knowing that you did everything you could to fight for Spring. Extreme counter measures for a winter of extremes.

As you enjoy your Spring, think of us stuck in a snowy winter landscape for at least another couple of weeks. We will join you in the joys of Spring eventually … at which time we will be extremely happy to complain about the messy melt, washed out roads, mud and over flowing rivers.

Go Ahead … Throw that snowball …

“The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.” ~ Doug Larson

Fresh snow, chocolate cake, red roses, a phone call from a friend and a rare daylight visit from a Barred Owl were my birthday gifts today.
Birthdays are strange creatures … some years they barge into your life in a rather loud, “look at me”, “let’s celebrate” sort of way. Other years, they pass by in a ghostly silence and are not even noticed. This year, it has been a rather numb one … just a normal, working school day with my birthday passing in a very quiet whisper. I barely even remembered it was my birthday.

That is not a complaint or even a wish for it to change into a loud boisterous evening .. it is just how it is/was. Not great, not bad … just a day in my life. The older I get the less important it is to me how I spend my special day. Although I have hit one of those “old milestone” birthdays, I am still very young at heart … my mind and spirit are about 20 years less my physical age … and that is a great gift.

Just in case you are curious about how my starting quote relates to all this … it was a confirmation that I have not let my aging process make me “old”. With 20″ of fresh snow falling in the past 5 days, I definitely have the urge to throw a snowball or two (and have) … and the idea of building a snowman this weekend is lurking in the back of my thoughts. Snow Angels would be fun, but I am afraid if I fell back into the snow to make one I would never get out … it is 4 feet deep out there .

More pictures of my birthday visitor (Barred Owl) can be seen at my photography blog: Bear In Sight: What a Hoot . . .

There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents, and only one for birthday presents, you know. ~ Lewis Carroll

Un-birthdays are sounding pretty great to me . . .

All Paths Lead Somewhere . . .

“All of life is a journey which paths we take, what we look back on, and what we look forward to is up to us. We determine our destination, what kind of road we will take to get there, and how happy we are when we get there.” ~ Unknown

Life is a journey down a path. Each of our paths are different and we run into different obstacles and fun along the way. Our paths cross other’s paths and will sometimes widen a bit to accommodate company for stretches of time. Our life path has ups and downs, gentle curves and extreme round-a-bouts. There are special destinations along the way, but they are not the same for everyone. Eventually, we will all converge at the same place (just like all of these squirrel paths converge at the tree). However, our one true convergence takes place at the end of our life. We start our paths in different places, we make different choices, we face different paths … The only thing we all share is the same ending … death. .. it is at the end of all of our paths.

It is the journey down our path and how we deal with everything that comes our way that makes us unique … the journey is what counts, not the end. How we treat people, how we share of ourselves and our talents, how we live our beliefs .. that is what matters. I am sure that all of us have a few detours we wish we would not have taken and/or holes in our paths that we would love to be able to go back and fix … but, life does not allow us to do that very often (if it does, it is not something we should think twice about doing .. it is a rare gift to be able to set things right). The most important things we can do is learn from those mistakes and do our best each day. “It is better to travel well than to arrive.” ~ Buddha

Unlike these Minnesota snow crabs (oak leaves) which crawl along the snow without leaving a trace, it is impossible for us to walk down our paths without leaving a mark. The marks we leave behind are sometimes faint, sometimes obvious, sometimes dramatic changes, improvements and sometimes damage… but, there is always a trace of us left. The question is .. what traces do we want to leave behind for other people to see or know about our path?

If you are a blogger, you are leaving your thoughts, opinions and art. If you are a parent, you are leaving your children. If you are a friend, you are leaving your friendship with others. Writers are leaving their words, painters their pictures. Teachers their knowledge, builders their structures. Counselors are leaving peace and understanding, children their laughter and joy. Everyone leaves something in their path every day. Lets try to leave mostly positive things there …

“Other people may be there to help us, teach us, guide us along our path, but the lesson to be learned is always ours.” ~ Unknown

I hope your winter path has been a life giving and fun trip these past few months … my path is very hectic with too much time working and not enough time for the things I enjoy. I am looking forward to my Spring and Summer paths as I will once again have more time to dedicate to my blog and visiting your blogs. Thanks for sticking with me and checking on me during my blogging dry spell.

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the only one who’ll decide where you’ll go.” ~ Dr. Seuss

Extremes . . .

“Whenever a situation develops to its extreme, it is bound to turn around and become its opposite” ~ Frank Capra

January … actually most of 2013 … was filled with extremes. Extreme events, decisions, weather, changes, etc.
And not in just one direction .. but from one extreme to the exact opposite extreme.

In the statistics world, extremes are called “outliers”. Data on the far ends of normal far away from the middle grouping of the majority. In general, outliers don’t count for much and are often set aside in statistics. In life, the exact opposite is true .. it is the outliers that challenge us.

35º below to 35º above. Rain to a foot of snow. Long nights of darkness to nights with a full moon that lights up the snowy night woods as if it was just a cloudy day. Death of a relative and a family pet to the birth of a baby. A major small town business shutting down with numerous people losing their jobs to the building of a new coffee shop in the same town. Miraculous, life-giving solutions to agonizing problems to new problems taking their place. Celebration of the positive and trudging on through the negative.

Pain … whether emotional or physical. Life events whether happy or sad. How do you handle the extremes that appear in your life?

Most of us strive for the norm and are most comfortable in the routines of an ordinary day … we avoid the bad extremes and celebrate the good extremes. I don’t know about you, but I have never had a problem dealing with the positive extremes .. those are welcome as long as they don’t all come at once . The negative extremes are where the struggles come from.

Floating in the middle ground is comfortable. I find that when bad extremes hit, I need to let go, throw my hands up and just ride with the flow of the extreme … there is seldom anything that can be done to change those extreme events that pop up and surprise us. I would like to say that when I let go it is because of my strong faith. However, if I am to be 100% honest, faith is only part of it. Sometimes when it comes to the bad extremes, it has a lot to do with a lack of fight, a feeling of helplessness … “what will be will be”, “things will change again” or “it will be over soon”.

My blogging habits have been extreme, too. From a couple of posts a week to one a month. I actually wrote this post at the beginning of February. The extremes of my January followed me into February and I forgot to finish it. I have decided to leave it as is … a string of thoughts .. because that is how I handle extremes. My thoughts float back and forth from one end to the other as I ride the waves to calmer waters and clearer vision. I hope while I have been not visiting you, you have been comfortable floating in the calm waters enjoying the start of 2013.