Spring, that most ephemeral season, is with us again here in southern Illinois.

[Atticus]

The changes that take place right before our mostly unseeing eyes are nothing short of miraculous.

Within 48 to 72 hours, the redbuds earn their name, Dutchman's breeches and trout lillies crowd the woodland floor and spring beauties carpet the edges of the meadow.

Magnolias and Bradford Pears are in full bloom and lilacs, peonies and the fruit trees have buds just beginning to show color.

Redwing blackbirds, mockingbirds, cardinals and mourning doves fill the fragrant air with songs sung in search of mates. Spring peeper frogs start their chorus each evening.

Every wonder just listed will be finished within the next few days---a couple weeks at most.

Suck it in.

Wonder at it as a child would.

Savor it like adults can.

As Hank Thoreau once put it, "---live deep and suck out all the marrow of life---".

None of us is guaranteed another spring.

[rsdsharp]

1. Father Andrew Greeley referred to the time when the trees are starting to leaf

as “the green lace of April.”

[Martin Eden]

2. You may have just convinced me

I've been itching to take a few days off for hiking, but undecided where to go. I've hiked in Shawnee National Forest and State Parks in Southern Illinois dozens of times since I went to SIU in the late 1970's, most recently April & November last year.

I've hiked most of my favorite trails multiple times, but I keep going back. It's less than 6 hours from my home in Chicagoland, which for me is a relatively short drive.

I was kinda planning on Big South Fork in Tennessee, but that state has gotten on my feces list.

[AwakeAtLast]

3. If only my allergies would cooperate

March was so miserable weather wise, now everything came out at once and the pollen bomb has made me miserable.