In my corner of the world we often talk about the first signs of spring. The robin shows up. Daffodils  sprout. Buds appear on trees and bushes.  But it occurred to me that some of the "signs of spring" are actually signs.

A lot of these signs say "open." Our favorite ice cream stand opened for the season yesterday. One of our favorite seafood restaurants near the ocean opened recently and we had lunch there today. The sign at the Seacoast Science Center explains that they will be open all week soon. A lot of our stores and businesses are seasonal. They open in the spring and close in the fall or before winter starts. Of course there are some who only open in the winter - ski resorts for example - but those are stories for another time.