Spring really is living up to its age-old theme of rebirth this year. It’s hard to have negative feelings when the peepers start calling, the leaves start to show, the early flowers are in bloom, the birds are back, baseball is on the radio or TV, and the sky is a brilliant blue.
The only negative that intrudes is the Presidential election campaign and the increasingly ugly remarks by the candidates, but we can’t blame that on Mother Nature.
We’ve had a good run so far this year – a mild and short winter and a spring without floods, and it would be a good bet that many of our readers spent the past weekend in their yards and gardens. We’ve been so much more fortunate than others across the country, where floods have impacted major cities, snowstorms have been heavy, and schools have been cancelled routinely for bad weather. And it’s not just in our country that the weather has been cruel – both Japan and Ecuador suffered major earthquakes and loss of life – while we basked in warm, sunny weather.
In that spirit, it’s a good time of year to turn over the proverbial new leaf, and pursue something you haven’t tried before, ranging from a new vegetable or flower to grow to a decision to volunteer in your community by serving on a committee or helping out a non-profit.
Or perhaps learn a new sport, or visit someplace different. Many of us think nothing of traveling far away to see the sights, but there are plenty of places to visit close to home that invite us to learn more about the place we have chosen to live.
Consider the Frost Farm or the Taylor Sawmill in Derry, the buildings at the Londonderry Historical Society, the Rail Trails and Town Conservation lands that open up natural areas that often are literally in our own backyard, the historical museums each of our towns offers that help explain the past.
Look at spring – and its welcoming weather that invites us outdoors – as a doorway to all kinds of things new – as well as an excuse to sit on a lawn chair and relax in the sun. The winter may not have been long but it was cold, and we’re more than ready for the warmth of this new season.