It's the first day of spring in New England. Palm Sunday as well. I spent some time this morning walking through the woods on snow shoes with my neighbor. It is hard to believe there is still so much snow on the ground. Parts of my yard, mostly where the sun shines all day and the snow does not accumulate much when the wind blows, are actually bare. Grass is starting to turn green there and flowers are starting to pop up.
Other parts of the yard still have quite a bit of snow on them. My back deck, parts of which never see the sun, have close to 2 feet of snow. Just off the deck where I push the snow when I shovel the deck has more than three feet of snow piled up. That is going to take some time to melt.
But in spite of the snow it feels a lot like spring. The birds are back out in force. And of course it being mating season they are singing up a storm. I've put out extra food for the birds BTW because I worry about the snow getting in the way of their natural sources of food. The air is mild and more humid than it was in the winter. It feels like the whole world is coming back to life. That is the message and the hope of spring. New life is also the message and hope of Easter (next Sunday). It's a wonderful hopeful time of year. I love it.