Last night while walking Keely I noticed a bush with a bunch of light green sprouts at the top. It was otherwise a fully-leafed bush, because this is Florida, but it was a tangible sign of spring oncoming.
I thought of that this morning because I realized that I don’t see too many signs like that on these walks because they happen before dawn. It’s just too dark to see subtle shifts. Either the trees are stripped of leaves or they are fluffy with greenery. It’s hard to see the in between stages in the dark, and palmettos are obnoxiously green all year ‘round.
Temperature changes are not helpful either. Weather is variable here in the winter — summer, comparatively, is one long nine month slog of unbearably hot, sweaty, miserable weather. Winter, though, can vary week to week (day to day) from chilly and mild to hot and sticky. Hard to tell where spring falls in that without visual evidence.
The ducks are no help because, as I said, winter is variable and except for probably January they go at it all year long and, again, we walk so early in the morning they are usually asleep or close to it. I hate seeing the early broods I know will perish with a cold snap. 🙁
But spring is here, I suppose, and the threat of summer on its heels. It is March already and I wasn’t prepared for that.