Fling off thy sadness
No leaves yet, but the skies are blue and the trees are budding! March 2013
Awake, thou wintry earth –
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness! — Thomas Blackburn
As I write this, I keep glancing out my glass doors, and I see there is still snow on the ground. But the sun is shining brightly, and the snow is melting, slowly but surely. It was raining and gloomy when I got up this morning, but the weather has turned around rather dramatically. I hope to take a walk this afternoon.
The days are getting noticeably longer. I haven’t had to use the flashlight I carry in my pocket for some time now. In fact, it was so light outside when I got back from walking yesterday that I kept wondering what happened; had I left earlier than usual? Did I somehow walk faster or shorten my walk without knowing it? No, it’s just lighter now. Spring really is coming.
After this winter, which has been long and hard but also full of cozy warmth and love, I am especially eager for spring. I am guessing many of you probably are too. Today, I hope you see signs of it to lift your spirits. Whether it’s a budding tree, the first shoots of daffodils or crocus, or some glorious late-afternoon sunshine, I hope you can see evidence that the earth is laughing off its sadness, ready to celebrate.
One year ago today:
This post was first published seven years ago today. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
Defeat Despair 
Gibbs is supposed to open next week.
Wonderful! Are you planning to go? I might try to go sometime this year.
Good morning, Julia and Matt. Your words ring true this morning , just as they did many years ago. A celebration is certainly in order. After spending a lovely “girl’s weekend” with 9 cousins in Beaufort NC this weekend, I could write a book about southern fun! It’s wonderful to know that laughter and smiles still exist. I hope your world is happy right now. Here we are on our March Verandah enjoying that mountain view that’s so lovely. Always together in a porch, aren’t we?💜✝️
Sheila, the March view is lovely but I miss those bright colors of February! I guess we need some serenity though. Sounds like y’all had a great get-together. Yes, my world is pretty happy right now. I have some new friends and new pastimes and spring is just around the corner!
These early blooming cherries- in light pink are some kind of flowering cherry. Not sure what kind. Not the Noshino which are a pure white. Did you ever get down to the Macon cherry festival? I think it is the end of March.
Mike, I think that’s probably a shot of the flowering plum tree at our York home. At Alexandria we had the Yoshino cherry trees, like the ones in DC. They are very pale pink (look white) at first, but as the blooms age, they turn more pink. By the time they fall, they leave “pink snow” on the ground, which I featured in a blog post here (do a search for “pink snow” and it should come up). I like the pink color but by the time you can see it, the flowers are ready to fall.