It’s March, but I Want April
Terry Sprague | Mar 06, 2011 | Comments 1
March is here. Great. Do I sound less than enthusiastic? I find March to be one of the most difficult months to enjoy. I embrace winter and all it has to offer – the cross country skiing and snowshoeing opportunities, winter birding, crisp morning walks, and the delicate beauty that winter brings. When March comes, my thoughts are uncontrollably in the direction of spring. I want winter to go away, but it keeps coming back as it did this morning, with snow following a heavy rainfall and melt. My thoughts are in the direction of song sparrows, the first chorus frogs singing from roadside ditches, skunk cabbage, the first red-winged blackbirds singing from our marsh, and the ice leaving the Bay of Quinte. Thoughts like that do not come easily when snow buntings are still cartwheeling over the meadows and snowplows are still active. I have to drag the dog on these sloppy mornings; during the crisp days of winter she was dragging me. Our sump pump hopes the power won’t go off, the furnace is still chugging along, the fields beside our house are too muddy to walk across, and it’s a guessing game whether or not to remove the snowblower from the garden tractor. If I can just hang in there for a few more days, our marsh will become a din of spring peepers, killdeers will be calling, and the first blades of green grass will appear. When I get a bit discouraged, all I have to do is take a look at the slew of early spring photos that friend Louisa has sent me from Pleasant Bay. She sees beauty in all 12 months. I have included one of those photos here.
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About the Author: Terry Sprague became interested in nature at an early age. "Growing up on the family farm at Big Island, 12 miles north of Picton, on the shore of the beautiful Bay of Quinte, I was always interested in the natural world around me. During my elementary school days at the small one-room school I attended on Big Island, I received considerable encouragement from the late Marie Foster, my teacher in Grades 6 through 8. Her home was a short distance from where I lived and through the years she was responsible for developing my interest in birds. The late Phil Dodds, a former editor with the Picton Gazette, also a great nature enthusiast, suggested I undertake a nature column - a column I have submitted weekly since 1965. The column has since expanded to the Napanee Beaver and the Tweed News. Life has been good, and through the years I have enjoyed working with such nature related agencies as Glenora Fisheries Research as a resource technician, Sandbanks Provincial Park as a park interpreter and Quinte Conservation as a naturalist and outdoor events coordinator. As a nature interpreter, currently working from my home office, I now create and lead numerous interpretive events in the area and offer indoor audio/visual presentations to interested groups. Could one who is interested in nature have enjoyed a more exhilarating period in the work force?" Terry's website is www.naturestuff.net
Hi Terry. You’re right, March just feels so much like being in limbo somehow. Winter proper is not really here, and neither is spring, but we’re waiting…and you can feel ‘spring fever’ inside you. But you don’t want to rush things, you want to enjoy every day and be as present as you can be and not miss anything along the way. Here’s what I have to do at this time of year (I can’t help myself): Start a tray of seeds indoors!