It’s spring! This is my favorite time of year, a time of renewal, of fresh air and sunshine, and endless possibilities.

This is the first year in a great many when the new season has actually snuck up on me. Usually, by March 20th, I’m rather desperate to be done with winter. Where I live, in Southern Ontario, we usually take a real beating, weather-wise, from October to March. But this past year we experienced the least winter-like winter I can remember.

 Of course, I don’t completely trust that the snow is done for good. Too many times in the past, we’ve been dumped on with major snow falls or horrendous ice storms in March and April for me to do that.

I have a “blue box” with a lid that in the winter sits on my porch. It’s used to keep safety salt at the ready, and as I write this, that box is still on my front porch, and still more than half full of salt. It’s currently being used as a “table” by some in the family, who’ve placed it between the chairs there—they’ve already taken to sitting out on the porch in the late afternoon and early evening, and need a spot to set their coffee cups.

Last autumn, I finally got my beloved to put some flower bulbs in the ground for me. You may recall that I mentioned I’d only been asking to have bulbs planted for about 4 or 5 years. He planted tulips on either side of the wooden walkway that spans the lawn from the sidewalk to the steps leading up to my porch. The tulips are now up, and will likely bloom in a couple of weeks – Good Lord willing and the snow doesn’t fall.

Apparently, he also planted some daffodils, right under one of our bedroom windows. I say apparently, because, before I could actually see the one flower blooming there, my almost 18 year old grandson picked it for his girlfriend.

Suffice it to say that he’s keeping his distance for a little while.

There are other signs of spring around the Ashbury household, too. I’ve had to go out and purchase new ant traps. I’m not sure why, but every spring, we get a few dozen of the black ones coming inside the house. If I could see one area where they get in, I’d place some bay leaves at that spot. I’d heard it said, and have proven it to myself in the past, that ants, for whatever reason, won’t cross over the bay leaves.
Unfortunately, my house isn’t solid as a rock, so where the little soldiers are getting in is anybody’s guess.

The last couple of days have seen us enjoying lots of sunshine, with the temperatures soaring to around 77 to 78 degrees. That’s way above normal for March for us, of course. And while some flowers are sprouting—daffodils, narcissi, crocuses and my tulips—the trees here are still barren of buds, the fields still wear the matted brown cloaks of winter, and the sky itself hasn’t yet turned to that deeper blue.

It feels like springtime, but lacks the depth of the season, to a great degree.

Of course one final sure-fired sign that it’s probably spring is the very real craving I’ve been having lately to start my spring cleaning. I’ve already thrown open the doors and windows, so the fresh breeze can blow the stale air of winter out of my house. And I’ve been eyeing my windows—the ones on the house, not on the computer. I’m thinking they could use a really good cleaning. I want them to sparkle in the late March sun. It’s not really a task I can tackle all on my own, unfortunately. I’ll need some help. Maybe I can talk my daughter into lending a hand later in the week.

Mr. Ashbury has already told me I should just sit down and relax until the urge passes.

Love, Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com/

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury