Fee-VAH!

Spring has definitely sprung here in the northeast. Although, in New England it doesn't so much spring as it does vault or bound... Or slap you in the face and say "Hey, Jackass, I'm here now. You can put your snow shovels away." Spring is much too gentle a word for the phenomenon that is this most fickle of seasons. One day you can be dressed head to toe in your best LL Bean outerwear made for subzero temperatures and the next you're pulling out your shorts from the bottom of the dresser drawer. This week, though not warm enough for me to feel the need to subject others to the whiteness of my legs, has been beautiful and I've been taking full advantage of it. Like most other people in my situation (stay at home Moms and the unemployed) I've been outside every day trying to work off the flab that has attached itself to my thighs and butt. If I don't do something about it soon the Borden's company is going to come calling. "Mrs. Chicky? Hi this is Bob from Borden's. Listen, we're running a little low on cottage cheese and we heard you had some to spare. Great! I'll send someone right over."

But I digress.

As a born and raised Massachusetts gal I am cautiously optimistic that Spring is, indeed, here to stay. I want to be hopeful about it, I really do. But as any dyed-in-the-wool New Englander will tell you - Wait 5 minutes, the weather will change. And then they'll remind you of the April Fool's Day snowstorm of '97. And people wonder why we're such a sullen bunch. If you lived with such crap weather all your life you'd be a bit of a pessimist too. That and the fact it took the Red Sox 86 years to win another World Series.

Since it is so gorgeous outside I'm going to try to be a little bit more optimistic about things. I even tried to document this change in attitude with pictures....

This is a crocus from my garden. I have no idea how it got there because I've never seen them in my yard before. And its growing dangerously close to the piles of dog poop that my neighbor's dog has thoughtfully left all over my side yard. See! Spring is full of happy accidents!

This is a branch from one of my lilac bushes. There are buds on it! It will bloom soon! And its really pretty when its all in flower. It has these wonderful white blossoms and a really delicate lilac scent which keeps my mother-in-law away for at least a month because she's horribly allergic!

Look closely... These are tiny lemon balm seedlings. They smell fantastic and I've heard you can make teas out of them. I guess this makes up for the fact that they're horribly invasive and have taken over one side of my yard, even though I pull the little suckers every year and have done everything short of burning them at their scented roots.

What is this? Is it... Yes! Its a weed! They're starting already. Soon I will be outside for hours, nay, Months(!) pulling these hardy little fellows out of the ground before they smother the beautiful plants that I've lovingly tended to. That is, until the heat of July takes over and I decide its much less work to just let nature take her course. There's always next year!

So, there you have it. A New Englander's optimistic view of Spring. Now if you don't mind I'm going to go outside and enjoy the sun because I think the weatherman just predicted snow flurries for next week.