late winter | Lucky Otters Haven

I love watching everything come back to life starting around this time of year. I’ve never appreciated these changes so much until this year, however.

Because last Sunday (March 8th) I decided to post a few photos of some trees in my neighborhood that were starting to show the “fall” colors of early spring in their buds and branches before the chlorophyll kicks in (see my post “Winter Into Spring”), I decided to make “The Progression of Spring” a regular weekly feature until things look like summer again, probably around the end of May.

The first photo shows the exact same location as last week but there are a few changes: the grass is a LOT greener than last week (this happened almost overnight), and the trees look fuller and a few are beginning to bloom. The second photo was taken right by my house.

Both these photos make it hard to believe it’s technically still winter.

I love very late winter, because it’s when suddenly nature returns from the dead and gloom of that season. Even though the trees are still pretty bare and it’s still pretty cold, the lengthening and slightly warmer days have cause the buds to begin to open, showing their true (fall) colors before the chlorophyll starts kicking in.

I snapped these photos this morning in my neighborhood, after church. If you look closely, some of the trees have a yellowish tint and others, a reddish one. It really doesn’t look much like winter anymore. Birds were chirping everywhere and I heard children playing outdoors in the distance.

Experiencing this simple moment was the perfect gift just after having attended mass during the third week of Lent. Late winter/spring and the Easter season is all about resurrection and rebirth.

I decided to post the Youtube link to George Winston’s piano music, “Winter into Spring” here. It’s the whole album. Listen to it while sitting outside or appreciating the rapid changes nature is undergoing even if only from your window. No matter how poor, sick or beaten down by life we are, we are all blessed to have these gifts that cost nothing.