It should be spring. It’s March, okay so it’s only the beginning of the month and the actual vernal equinox doesn’t come for a while. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, it will be at 7:02 AM (EDT) on March 20. I may set my alarm. But I actually think Spring, meaning semi-warm weather being around 70-72 degrees with sun, lots of sun and blue skies [truly I don’t care if the sky is Carolina Blue or not] begins anytime, and is more a state of mind than an actual climatic event.
According to ol’ Puxatawney Phil, he of the no shadow in 2013, winter will NOT be extended by six weeks. Yeah, but. Six weeks from when? February 2? Or from the vernal equinox? Because the vernal equinox, you know, that when the sun moves the highest it is ever going to get in the northern hemisphere, is more than six weeks from February 2. So is Phil, I always call him Phil, saying the vernal equinox, that event that is a universal truth, one of the few, means nothing? Well. That’s always confused me. If it is from 2/2 then we should be getting spring weather soon. Not spring-like, it either is or it is not, there is no like about it.
Sigh. Spring is not what it used to be. Now we talk about spring being between Tuesday and the following Saturday. The weather goes from Winter to Summer. Same same for Fall. Summer to Winter, with only a short stop in between. Well, maybe if you live in the northeast and there wasn’t a hurricane or something else to take out all the lovely leaves that fall all over the place.
I sometimes wonder if spring hasn’t changed, just me. When I was a kid, did I really care about the weather? No. If it was too rainy or cold to be outside I read. If it was warm enough to be outside I rode my blue and cream English racer, complete with a camel colored seat and matching knapsack, around the neighborhood, mapping the area, knowing all the ins and outs, loving the feeling of freedom and the wind, created wind, but wind all around me.
Yeah, it should be spring.