The Calm Before the Warm

 Each spring as I shake the laziness from my winterized self and get out on my bike for the first ride of the season I find my thoughts, like my muscles, get a bit of a workout.  I am always amazed and grateful when winter begins to lose its grip and spring is about to burst forth. 

As I rode along our country roads this afternoon the first thing I noticed was the mud.  In every field, on every road and in every ditch there was mud.  At first glance it all looked so dormant, so still, so anticipatory.  But my wintery eyes adjusted to the sunshine and I began to really SEE what was around me.  The blue skies were filled with marshmallow-y clouds.  Yes, the bottoms were definitely flat and more grey than white but there was a fluffiness to them that you just don't see in the winter.  And even more miraculously, in between the clouds the sky was a beautiful spring blue.  There wasn't a trace of that inky, flat grey that surrounds us from the end of October until the middle of March.  In the large barren trees you could see mama and papa eagle, sitting beside their nest which grows larger and larger each year.  The fields are filled with puddles that are in turn filled with ducks and snow geese and swans.  The odd robin flies by and I even catch a glimpse of the stellar jays that we just don't see during the winter months.  Daffodils and snowdrops push their way through the mud and the tulip trees are loaded with buds.  As I take it all in I almost miss the telltale signs that spring REALLY is here and I swerve quickly to avoid the track of slick, slimy, brown splotches left on the road by the manure spreaders.

 Spring.  Spr"ing".  I think it's more like spr"ing".  All around me "ing's" are happening.  Blooming, bike-riding, manure'ing, singing, planting, walking, enjoying, breathing deeply,  you get the picture.  All the 'ing' words I can think of are floating through my brain as I ride.  My legs are pumping, my lungs are filling, my muscles are tiring and I am thankful for all of the beauty and peace in my world.

 While that beauty and peace are always around me I am not always aware of it or appreciative of it, especially during the dreary days of winter.  Don't get me wrong, I love the Fraser Valley.  I just don't love winter in the Fraser Valley.  I know it's hard to complain, particularly in light of the winter that has gripped the rest of the country, but I am SO, SO glad that spring is making inroads. 

While March 20th/21st are considered the 'first' day of spring, in my world it isn't official until I've taken that first longer bike ride of the season.  So, now it's official.  Welcome Spring!