26 DAYS . . .

In 26 days, the calendar will read March 20. And my calendar reports March 20th as the First Day of Spring.

I'm ready.

We had plenty of snow this winter in the northern hemisphere. Now we're having the January thaw (a little late) and creeks and rivers in our corner of Indiana are overflowing. Add to that, early seasonal rain. River Floor Warnings come up on The Weather Channel every day.

So I bought some cute boots to wear and ditched my old umbrella with the bent ribs for a nicer one (still black, but at least the ribs are straight). My last year's raincoat is again doing duty to keep me dry when I have to dash from car to store and store back to car.

If I complain about the rain, I get the usual response, "Rain makes the flowers grow!"

Yes, yes, of course it does. So does sunshine!

All right, I'm ahead of myself--26 days ahead--but I can't help it. I've been indoors too long this year. There are no new movies to watch except on Netflix. There are no new books to read, especially when I don't want to go out in the rain to pick them up at the library. And my budget stretches only so far when ordering books or movie to arrive at my door.

I'm more than ready to sit on my patio with a mug of coffee and just watch the world open up. No need to stick my nose in a book--I can watch kids trying out bikes they got for Christmas. Listen to birds I can't identify (though I suspect a lot of the songs are from cardinals--did you know cardinals have 28 distinct songs?). If I'm careful and don't move much, smaller birds come to the feeders for breakfast, brunch, lunch, midafternoon snack, dinner, bedtime treat . . . . (I wonder--is this their version of catching up on the news at the water cooler?)

Spring opens up time. No need to keep doing things. Just sit--listen--watch--sniff. Pay attention to what Nature brings back to us each spring. And give thanks.