Spring Notes

It is a grey day, promising rain.

More evidence that spring is really here emerges from the snow daily.

The stream is flowing noisily ... and in its own bed so far. I can see parts of it now that some of the snow has disappeared. Until a couple of days ago it remained an audible but invisible underground stream. The ice has melted where it empties into the lake.

On the shore, bits of debris from the old cottage are poking out now: sheets of wood, the bath tub, a ladder. Beside the old cottage, under the snow, I can see the bright blue tip of the canoe and a hint of its outline. In the side yard an old bucket and the barbecue are beginning to show through the decaying snow.

There is good reason for people to do a major clean-up come spring. All that messiness which has been hidden under a white cover reveals itself when the snow begins to disappear, and the snow itself, just a week or so ago, still beautiful and clean, is tainted now.