By Phyllis Galowitz
It’s the day before Easter. It’s the middle of Passover. The tips of the forsythia are just showing yellow. The lilac’s buds are swelling and tiny green leaves emerging. Daffodil stems rise 10 inches above the ground, the yellow of the coming flowers peeking through the green tips. The grass gets brighter green by the hour and the brown of winter is disappearing. The blossoms of the maples are opening red as the day goes on.
I’m inspired to come out of hibernation, although I did enjoy my lazy winter. As the weather changes slowly, so shall I slowly return to my “coming out,” as much as my aging self permits. Today I went swimming at the Catskill Recreation Center, the first step to unfolding my bones to get ready for spring walks, garden chores and waving to neighbors, as they emerge from their indoor, stay-in-the-house days. It felt wonderful! It takes time to build up the energy needed to do the things I had planned for today. Age seems to have gotten in the way and by 3 o’clock I am finished. Hopefully we’ll have another beautiful day tomorrow and I’ll start working in the garden.
Two days ago the temperature rose to 82 degrees and, with the windows open, I heard the peepers. Spring birds are arriving daily and I must remember to hang the hummingbird feeder for their arrival around May 7th. The weather is uncertain, though; one day warm and suddenly, the next night, the temperature drops to 32 degrees, so I mustn’t rush to bring my indoor plants outside and certainly resist planting those tempting flowers at the garden shop that can’t take the freezing nights or the torrential rains.
On Easter Sunday, I took a walk along Route 28. Bryant’s Brook was singing loudly as it rushed over and under the uprooted trees. A woodpecker proclaimed its presence, although I didn’t see it. Skunk cabbage, bright green, spotted the brown edges of the brook, and the yellow of coltsfoot, the first flower of spring, smiled up at me along the road.
Tomorrow’s weather… cloudy… chance of showers and thunderstorms.