Signs to get your Hopes Up

The sun shone all day

The sky was blue, with nary a cloud

I am sure the catkins

on the tree outside my window

are just a little fatter...

just a little longer.....

the village plowman came along

and moved the snow

along the edge of the road

into mighty white mountains,

awaiting removal.

Along the creek

that follows the meadow out back

the aura of rosy pink and green

is stronger still in the trees and bushes

that line it.

In the bathtub

the buds on a bouquet of forsythia sticks

(brought by my youngest son)

begin to swell

(imperceptibly, but still....in a week

they will be showing golden.)

Hope springs eternal!!!!!

Spring is on its way 

if she would just quit lollygagging around

and making come hither eyes

on that swing!!!!

Winter doldrums.......

Still in February!!!

It seems to go on, and on, and on.......dreary and sunless

(except for small exceptions)!

The snow along the road is dirty

and where it is piled up to make room for traffic

it is inclined to raise despair in those who are looking

for patches of green grass, that promise spring, eventually!!!

Even with one day added for Leap Year

 February still has the shortest span of all the other months, - 

and yet the calendar moves so slowly.

I know that before the last great dump of snow

the tulips were beginning to poke through,

And then the ground froze solid

and heaven only knows what the poor dears are doing now!!!

If I were terribly energetic I would take advantage of these days,

(house-bound and confined)

to go through drawers and tidy them,

to fill great black plastic bags for the Bargain Centre

and leave the house  sophisticated in its simplicity.....

Or I could sort through snapshots

(of which I am sure we have close to a trillion)

and pass them on to various branches of the family......

Or I could fill the freezer with baking

and have a dozen loaves of bread on handto see me through

 March and April.....

But instead I linger through breakfast,

watch curling on the television,

play music, and leaf through handwovens mags,

thinking I will find inspiration.

I do a bit of reading

"The Department of Sensitive Crimes" by McCall Smith

and "Mountains of the Mind" by Robert McFarlane

more for entertainment than to improve my mind,

but nothing seems to lift the lethargy

and February just seems to linger on (and on and on).

Maybe I will plant a few seeds

in little square boxes

and when they send their lovely green shoots

through the earth

Spring will seem closer.....

Or I could put a pale green silken scarf

on the loom, to remind me of the colours

of Spring.

A dear son has offered to bring me Forsythia Sticks

from the garden on the hill,

and when their golden blooms come out

they will complement the lovely amaryllis

that still graces the plant window, since Christmas!!

Well, 'patience is a virtue'I will try to cultivate it,

and soon I will just have the winds of March

and the showers of April

to whine about,

unless I decide to enjoy life as it is.....