Well one cannot help look around and see….spring. Woo to the hoo. Woohoo! It’s about gosh darn time. Oops. But so glad. The grass is greening and I see the crocuses coming out. And little buds are popping up so much more. Yippee kick up my heels day! I just had my lane scrapped, taking away the deepened ruts from the tire tracks. I did not too badly this year, trying to be lazy and walking in from the road as the spring thaw was hard on the earth this year. Probably every year but my goodness looking at the side roads near me…swerve and slow and jerk the wheel. Your eyes have to be peeled because the pavement has really come on hard times in some places, deep holes. Anyway I said to the man who comes to do my lane in winter and kindly drag it for smoother laneway now….told me with a smile,
don’t be coming back any time soon.” Hahaha
So spring has sprung. Yes it did begin back in March but honestly Mother Nature has really had a sense of humour. I mean right up until this past week, big swirly snowflakes and even left a blanket of puffy white snow one evening….not funny anymore. But April certainly is living up to its calling…April showers bring May flowers. I better get cracking. I so want to have sunflowers this year. I even dug out a section yesterday which felt good. Digging deep into the red dirt soil. I love the colour of the island’s character of red dirt. No I do not play in it but maybe will with my granddaughter. We shall see. But creating a garden, mixing top soil with the red dirt, looks rich and fluffy. Dirt and fluffy, does that even make sense? But hey if it grows sunflowers, I’m in.
Going for my walk the freshly laden tracks from the tractor really caught my eye. I had a smile on my face as that meant the ground is finally hardening enough…thaw done. It is such a contrast, like a quilt, as the farmer leaves one section fallow, the other dug and turned. Rich dark reddish brown in colour ready for the planting, the smell of the newly churned dirt gives an earthy clean smell. No cow dung treat to the nostrils so far. LOL. There are certain smells that can curl your toes at times, don’t you find. I think back to my childhood and at the end of our street was the Cold Spring, turkey farm. Yeah not my favourite smell. But after awhile it just becomes part of the daily. Thunder Bay did that too with its pulp mills….strong, keel you over, kind of odour. Whew. But then I think of cold cellars, like my grandparents had back home in New Brunswick. Dank musty earthy and cold but the combination of the dank and musty did it for me….I like the smell. Nostalgia, maybe. Or it just turns my crank. Funny, huh!!
Spring has sprung. It is like the feet take on a life of their own, an re-awakening to the fallen trapped slug of the boots and heavy garb now discarded. I feel there is great things just awaiting for me just below the surface. Not sure what but the anticipation of spring like activities and happenings abound. Does that make sense? It is the ‘new’; the new of rebirth, of new life, of new blooms, of a new hop in the step, an invitation to the new in you. Yes. It is a reawakening feeling, something coming alive. No. Not like “duh duh duh duh duh duh” scary out of your mind Stephen Kingish sense of aliveness but that cool clear waterfall rush and wave washing over you, surrounding every cell of your being. Maybe more so like that polar bear dip but without the turning blue shivering from head to toe feeling. LOL.
Get in tune with spring in you as you grow yourself. Not only the beauty and activity abounding all around of colour and smells and beautiful things experienced, spring comes a knocking too in you. Isn’t it funny that feeling? You almost want to burst in song. No. I’ll save that for the little ones ears. But I think it reminds us of the yearning for a restart, reset, rematch. I know I have talked about self-care, so maybe this is a self-care spring has sprung. Hmmmmm. I need to dwell on that a bit more.
It reminds me a bit of a wonderful retreat experience, Courage work, I had many moons ago, still stays close to my heart. It was led by two wondrous and spiritually nourishing individuals who complimented one another in touching deep to the heart and mind of those who gathered in a circle. Based on Parker Palmer’s work of Courage to Teach, it took on a Canadian flavour as they took it cross border and let it take root and grow in our neck of the woods. And one of the aspects of the retreat that made it so unbelievably fulfilling was the thematic metaphorical approach of the seasons; seasons within us. What season are you in? Is it time to do a bit of cleaning for spring in you too? Eyes turn to wonder. Look at all of Creation and how the earth takes on a new hue and glow, perking up the drab and worn, and gives a burst of flavour. Whew. Almost too much when it first hits. LOL. And yet, the refined invitation sits, awaiting, a cusp of the season of renewal. Hmmmm.
So much has been going on to keep us possibly in the winter moments, the tougher times we had or still have. Somewhere is it possible to find a new umph, a courage to renew even in the midst of the yucky. Spring invites. Blessings.
Let us pray for those who are in need of our prayers especially those who are suffering the sick, the weary, the lonely.
Karenpondering 