Sugar, spice, snails, puppy dog tails

A brief touch of spring

Today, a day of infinite dreariness and chill, brings Winter's message that he soon will arrive. Summer almost missed us, at least a 'normal' Oklahoma summer, did. Rain, lower than normal temperatures - we never reached 100 degrees this year, WOW! - left grasses and trees green and vibriant until... well, they still are, a sight that will probably change later this week.

For weeks we've had drizzle (if not absolute torrents), gray skies, and bone-aching dampness resulting in depression, despair, dejection, despondency, discontent, disjunction... all right, already, enough alliteration, I better get to the point. The weather makes me miserable.

I am not a winter person. I enjoy sunlight and warmth. I want to sleep and hide when the sun does. Yet, Winter finds his way here every year. However, if Winter comes, then can Spring and Summer be far behind? Hope, blessed hope, sustains me until winter is blown away with late March winds.

Even with winter's agony nearly upon me, I like different seasons in my year. Freezing weather gives the plants a time of rest, kills off many pests, and allows me to appreciate the wonder and thrill of warmer weather.

Surviving winter until the relief of spring is the problem. At least where I live, we have really cold weather in spurts with spells of balmy days sprinkled here and there, which helps me endure. Who couldn't manage a week or two at most of freezing weather when then come days, even up to a week or so, of weather in the 60s, even sometimes the 70s. Yes, I can anticipate the treats of spring-like weather that will arrive from time to time, but I hate surviving the dank, dark, dreary (oh, I think I've already used that one) times between.

This year I have in my home a touch of spring that hopefully will last through the winter. In a spare bedroom by a window, on a red wagon that can be transported to the porch or yard, sit two patio tomato plants, blooming and covered with tomatoes. When the lack of sunlight or warmth becomes too much, I can watch my touch of spring and know that this time of winter too will pass.

Viv

Sugar, spice, snails, puppy dog tails  (ASR) Jots of thoughts as they flit through the rummage of my mind. #551218 by Vivian

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