Long Walks On Leafy Streets

3/25/2014 First Street NW, Washington, DC
Sometime soon after my arrival in DC in 1994, I was talking to an old black man sitting on a porch about the snow. He said it will keep snowing until February and there will be snow on the ground until March. Since then every year I would look to see if there is indeed snow on the ground in March. Last several years due to global warming the winters have been getting milder and milder. Sometimes we don’t get much snow at all, not to mention in March. This year due to the altered climate patterns we have had an exceptionally cold winter with regular snowfalls while other parts of the world have been warmer than usual. And man do we still have snow on the ground! It is getting to be late March and it is still snowing. In fact it has been snowing all day today! The snow from last Monday’s storm has still not completely melted away.
All this seems to be interfering with the blooming of flowers in the spring.
Apparently the cherry blossoms along the tidal basin may not be ready yet for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. Nevertheless I do see various signs of spring and I am amazed how the plants know it is time even though it has been so cold and snowy. Perhaps the few days of warmth interspersed between the days of freezing do the trick?
One day couple of weeks ago I was running by the corner of Maple and Carroll streets. There is a little meadow there and a mother was showing her daughter the little purple buttercups that had bloomed all over the place. I saw them also in people’s front yards. They are among the earliest arrivals of spring, sometimes blooming even before the snow melts away. Since then, as mentioned in previous post, I have seen daffodils, snowdrops, crocuses and other flowers in bloom at various places especially the Arboretum. I also see little leaflets sprouting on the bare branches of trees. The Rose shrub in our backyard is the first one to sprout leaflets in our house. Outside my office building through my window I can see a cherry tree bursting alive with a bright sprinkle of pink buds.
I feel a certain impatience for spring to arrive. Although Thursday was the first official day of spring it is still too cold and snowy. It is a strange feeling. Yesterday I was walking to work in a clear bright day. Although it was a bit cold for this time of the year it still felt somewhat springy. But today has been cold, gray and snowing since early morning. It is like when you were little and you were told school is over but you still have a bit of homework to do. Perhaps that is because there is some work to be done! So I am going to work hard this week and get things done and then I can really enjoy the arrival of spring later this week.

Directory Previous