Nightime Springtime

All my suspicions, all my "could it really be's" have been laid to rest by indisputable evidence of the fact that....IT'S REALLY SPRINGTIME! On Baggins' nightly walk we were convinced of winter's departure by a series of small but certain clues, clues that I think are worth sharing. A sort of "you know it's springtime when:" the sidewalks are covered in small white pebbles of grass fertilizer crunching beneath your feet, while you assume whomever's sidewalk is most littered, the greener their grass. To some people living in subdivisions, that is the equivalent of winning an Oscar. As I passed the house of a neighbor I received my very first sprinkler-spraying of the year, as the runoff created wide and shallow pools of water in between their yard's two pines. Another great clue is manifested in my dog's behavior, and that is the maniacal eating of the year's newest grass, the grass so green it's almost blue. Trees now have collected so many young, healthy leaves that I have to search a little harder to find the moon between them. The desperate chirping of multitudes of frogs, you know, the ones you rarely see, calling out to one another surely says the cold has passed. I even saw several slugs, I happen to be one of those rare people who think they are beautiful and fascinating, with their shiny trails betraying their comings and goings. And the lonely buzz of a beetle's wings against the cement as it desperately, yet pointlessly tries to flip itself over onto its feet, makes me remember they are the one insect I dread most from the new warmth, except of course the mosquito; happily I've avoided those little vampires as yet. The loveliest reminder of this new spring, the season of rebirth and optimism, are the little white clover flowers that in tonight's darkness appeared like small points of light shining through the grass, reminding me of a starry sky. jody