Finally. It's well and truly Spring
An explosion of green.
Spring:
season following winter, the vernal season, c.1400, earlier springing time (late 14c.), which replaced Lent, the Old English word. From spring (v.); also see spring (n.3). The notion is of the "spring of the year," when plants begin to rise (as in spring of the leaf, 1520s), from the noun in its old sense of "action or time of rising or springing into existence." It was used of sunrise, the waxing of the moon, rising tides, etc.; compare 14c. spring of dai "sunrise," spring of mone "moonrise," late Old English spring "carbuncle, pustule."
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=spring
Every year I'm amazed by and grateful for the suddenness: that moment when it's full florid spring and even if there's a late frost, nothing will halt it. It happens within a couple of days. Don't pay attention and you'll miss it. Spring's tentative for a month- the stubborn scabs of snow vanish, a sticky red haze on hawthorn bushes and raspberry canes that foreshadow green, the first green of new grass in fields and on lawns. That all happens in April and early May. And then come those few days where everything grows with a fury- con brio. (Hawthorn's have a storied history: The oldest tree in France, reputedly going back to the 3rd century, is a Hawthorn, and the Holy Thorn of Glastonbury was a Hawthorn. Myth had it that it sprouted from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea when he struck the earth with it. It was It was destroyed during the English Civil War. In 1958 it was replanted with the original cultivar and then destroyed again by vandals who chopped it down in 1958. It was known for flowering twice a year, rather than just once.)
Ack. distracted and waylaid again by interesting stuff. As a friend of mine said recently "Will this dratted curiosity ever end?"
In northern Vermont, Spring is as spectacular as the fall. I suppose that's true of all northern places.. I love the biting acid green of fields with their sweep of bright yellow dandelions as much as the maple tree reds of October. I need seasonal change to jolt me. I visited a friend long ago when she was living in Hawaii and thought it was, perhaps, the most beautiful place I'd ever seen, but I need my seasons well demarcated. When it comes to seasons, I'm not interested in subtle
When the leaves unfurl the light changes, the structure of the hills and mountains soften. It's like arriving in a new place. There are wild flowers- trout lilies, trillium and Jack-in-the-pulpits to discover, along with wild edibles from dandelions to ramps and fiddleheads.
It's the briefest of seasons here. We hurtle into summer just as tomatoes in gardens flower and it's that brevity that makes it even sweeter.
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