Blackberry winter? Whippoorwill winter? What is this? April is nearly gone but the temperatures are stuck somewhere back in March. The trees and azaleas are putting on a brave face, trying to ignore the cold and the green grass is in need of a lawn mower. Birds are building nests and doing their bit to create a new generation of feathered songsters. So it seems the only one out of step with the season is the thermometer and maybe it’ll start catching up today.
Why should it matter whether the temperature is what I think it should be? I am blessed with a warm house, warm clothes, warm car. And yet, it does matter. It matters very much. My brother once told me that I had to realize I can’t make other people behave as I want them to behave. Do I really want to control people? I don’t think so. But I confess that sometimes I want to shout to the world, “No. You’re not supposed to act like that!” So, maybe the same thing holds true for my view of nature. I like winter to be winter, spring to be spring. I like summer to be warm but no temperatures over 95, please and enough rain sprinkled through so I don’t have to water my flowers. Fall? It should be cool, rainy, a gradual transition from hot to cold. But guess what? Just as I have no control over people’s behavior, I have no control over Mother Nature either.
Because I live in town, I can’t hear the whippoorwills call when they return from the South. And I haven’t been around any blackberry bushes lately. Are they blooming? Perhaps it’s dogwood winter because I am pretty sure they are beginning to show those beautiful white petals marked with a spot of rusty red.
So if winter is reluctant to say good-bye, I’ll just enjoy my fireplace a bit longer. Since I can’t change it, I might as well look for the good in a hesitant spring. I don’t know who to blame for this cool snap…blackberries, whippoorwills or dogwoods but maybe it’s for the best. It’ll sure make me appreciate balmy temperatures when at last they get here.
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