Harbingers, Personal and Universal
Today, spring arrived in my environs.
Sofia came tearing into the kitchen, "Mamamamamama! There are FLOWERS outside." So we went to look, and, sure enough, the crocuses have arrived on the south side of the house. Later, I saw a red winged blackbird (yeah!).
Of course, crocuses and red winged blackbirds are everyone's harbingers of spring. I had my own personal harbingers today, too.
I hung laundry outside on the line, and it actually dried. (N.B. Some years I have attempted this
too early and come into the house crying with painful red fingers and/or ended up throwing the laundry into the dryer anyway because I couldn't tell if it was still damp or just really cold.) Granted, I was wearing my hat and a pair of wool felt fingerless gloves, but the laundry went OUT. There is a certain meditativeness in the hanging of laundry outside, and I miss it in the winter. The sun on my head and shoulders, birds singing, bend to the basket, rise to the line, clip, bend, rise, clip, bend, rise, clip.
I wore shoes on the basis of their cuteness today.
Not snow boots because of the weather, not hiking boots because I was tired of the snow boots but still needed protection from the elements: cute shoes for the sake of cute shoes, and my feet stayed warm.
Yeah, SPRING!
Sofia came tearing into the kitchen, "Mamamamamama! There are FLOWERS outside." So we went to look, and, sure enough, the crocuses have arrived on the south side of the house. Later, I saw a red winged blackbird (yeah!).
Of course, crocuses and red winged blackbirds are everyone's harbingers of spring. I had my own personal harbingers today, too.
I hung laundry outside on the line, and it actually dried. (N.B. Some years I have attempted this
too early and come into the house crying with painful red fingers and/or ended up throwing the laundry into the dryer anyway because I couldn't tell if it was still damp or just really cold.) Granted, I was wearing my hat and a pair of wool felt fingerless gloves, but the laundry went OUT. There is a certain meditativeness in the hanging of laundry outside, and I miss it in the winter. The sun on my head and shoulders, birds singing, bend to the basket, rise to the line, clip, bend, rise, clip, bend, rise, clip.I wore shoes on the basis of their cuteness today.
Not snow boots because of the weather, not hiking boots because I was tired of the snow boots but still needed protection from the elements: cute shoes for the sake of cute shoes, and my feet stayed warm.Yeah, SPRING!
Love your laundry ritual. I too know Spring is here. A Western meadowlark sang the season into being for me. And tulips are blooming in a teacup, plucked quickly before deer nibbled them down. The calendar says eight weeks more of school. Baby sagebrush fuzz greens the hillsides. And I, too, am looking forward to wearing some shoes for cuteness' sake. :)
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