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We’ve had one full year of the pandemic, encompassing the last few days of winter 2020 and the other three seasons of the year. With most of us being sequestered in our homes, the seasons of the year had little chance to work their magic on us. A couple of days ago, March 15, I jumped into the family SUV and took a ride into the country. I had no location in mind. I simply wanted to roam the countryside with iPhone in hand, looking for some early signs of spring to photograph.  Spring, as usual, has already begun to awaken in Arkansas. As far as I’m concerned it is the best all seasons.

Spring looks for the earliest opportunity to open its eyes and stretch its limbs to all four corners, anxious to revive all that winter has shocked into a form of cardiac arrest. I’m convinced that spring never leaves us; it simply waits quietly, not revealing itself until the nights start to get a little warmer. I’ve seen spring reveal itself in Arkansas as early as mid-February. Of course, it places the flora at risk whenever it jumps the gun too early. If memory serve me well, back in March 2007, after we had moved into our new home the December before, spring couldn’t wait for its time. Our new lawn had turned a beautiful green by the end of March. I was excited at the prospect of giving the grass its first mowing. My excitement was dashed when we had a heavy frost on the first of April. Jack Frost performed his job well, the early, tender green quickly turned to brown. Oh, but spring was still there, and in a few days, it reemerged with its usual vigor.

As I’ve gotten older, spring has come to have greater significance for me. Because it’s a time of quickening, I have begun to wonder how many more of this magical season I will be a witness to. Summer has its heat and humidity, but spring simply moves to stage right, waiting patiently. Fall has its appeal, almost as alluring as spring, but it lacks many of the soothing attributes (temped nights, blossoming landscapes…) of spring. Spring is still there, if only in my mind, waiting patiently. Winter, as I’ve gotten older, seems to present a gray lifelessness to it, that can only add color with wintry, inhospitable frozen stuff from the sky. Spring waits patiently. Spring sees its turn to rise in full force after the new year enters center stage, in Arkansas anyway. I find myself rooting for it by the end of January.

Oh, by the way, I did get a few shots while roaming the countryside the other day. I’ve attached them here. I hope you enjoy these representations of what I saw in their natural state. Spring a most enjoyable time of year, in Arkansas anyway. Father, I pray that I ill enjoy many more of its magical effects.

I’m old and blessed…hope you will be too.