Spring!

I have been intending for a long time to write a post about the little signs of spring that are emerging in the last few weeks. The first sign to catch my eye was an apparent bloom on a camelia bush along my pitch dark early morning walk route. I try to stick to the main drag close to our house because it is slightly better lit than the neighborhood streets. So every morning (OK, maybe three or four mornings a week), Luna in her leash and I in my fabulous reflective vest tromp up to the main intersection, turn around, and tromp back home. On the way we pass a lot of wood fencing, one excitedly barking dog (who inspires another), and a camelia bush, which started to bloom a few weeks ago. I wasn't sure I was really seeing blooms, because it really was dark on these walks. But now the bush next to our driveway, too, is covered with dramatic hot-pink flowers. Delightful!

The other, even more welcome sign of spring is that for the last week, when I leave on my walks, it is just barely light enough for me to abandon the sidewalk of the main drag and head into the nature trail. Our house is about a quarter of a mile from a long hiking trail that supposedly can take hardier walkers than myself all the way from Lake Sammamish to Lake Washington. One of the two legs of the trail that we can easily reach winds through a little patch of beautiful northwest woods and a kind of marshy grassland, past a few farm fields and a little stand that sells vegetables and gorgeous big bouquets of dahlias in the summer, and down to a medium-sized lake with houses all around and a healthy range of birds and occasional muskrats or otters or something to gawk at (I've seen a kingfisher, a pileated woodpecker, some kind of quail, lots of neat cormorants and duck varieties). The other leg leads through a blueberry farm, in the midst of which is a pretty pond, also with ducks and the occasional heron. We have been going the way of the blueberry the last few mornings, because it is much more open- a boon to the pre-dawn paranoiacs like myself. (What am I afraid of? Thugs, a little, but also...coyotes. Luna is probably too big for a coyote to try to eat, but why tempt a greedy one? There is also a sign that says to watch out for bears and panthers...heh.)

It's not a long walk- probably about a mile and a half from our house to the main road that borders the farm and back. But it is so much nicer than walking up the main road- so much more interesting for Luna to sniff, so many birds warming up their daytime voices. The trail is gravel, and my shoes make a satisfying crunch with every step. The moon is just past full now, and hangs low in the sky the last few mornings, behind light, misty clouds. The same clouds, on the opposite side of the sky, turn pink as the light grows. The most beautiful part this morning was the mist on the perfectly still pond. I could find a star, or a planet, more likely, reflected through the mist off the pond's smooth surface.

I always feel good when I take a walk in the morning, but the last week, the walks have brought me more joy than usual. I know when early Daylight Savings begins this weekend, my just barely light nature hikes are going to have to revert back to the pitch dark city street stroll. But I won't have to wait long for the light to return. Hooray! I love the transition to a new season. Spring here is long and damp and crazy with blooms and greenery, and leads to the warm, clear blue season of eating out on the patio and wandering around the botanical gardens. Also waiting for us, at the end of spring, is a new family member, who hopefully will enjoy eating outside and whatever else we come up with to do to celebrate summer. (Have I told you it's a girl? Poor Jim, now hopelessly outnumbered.) Spring is still a ways off for some of you, so I send you a big bunch of camelia blossoms and my best wishes for some sunny days in the meantime.