Is It Spring Yet? Living and Writing in New England
The Calendar Says It’s Spring
I can hear the sounds of spring. Birds are chirping and warbling somewhere outside. But what I see is SNOW.
Yes – it’s snowing again! And there are still no leaves on the trees.
This is New England, where it snows even in April. At least the snow melts quickly in this season. On the other hand, when the snow melts there’s LOTS of mud.
Do I Have Any Choice in Footwear?
The other day I chanced to be in a store where I saw some good-looking footwear on sale. To buy or not to buy? The styles were attractive and the sale prices were tempting. For a moment I wavered – and then I remembered all the mud.
My practical pair of boots can handle all the mud around these parts. Not very fashionable, but they do the job.
Evergreens and Pink Skies
Without any spring flowers or new leaves there’s not much color. But there’s still some – the needles of evergreens provide a muted green and the sky is often pink with color at sunrise and sunset. Do you like the smell of evergreens? Their scent is supposed to be especially energizing. If you’d like to try an aromatherapy essential oil, check out this link to the folks at PlantTherapy. They carry a wide range of oils including spruce and balsam fir. I’ve used their spruce and fir holiday blend and can vouch for an authentic scent.
More plusses to counter the mud: Around here, the air is always fresh. Your drinking water comes from a well that pumps from a subterranean reserve under your own property.
The coast of New England is also a quiet place to write and think. It’s far away from traffic and the bustle of cities. OK, so the internet’s a little sketchy here – I don’t have any internet service at home, in fact. But that makes it easy to spend time imagining story dialogues and scenes.
Or to imagine the coming of spring leaves and flowers at last!
