Signs of Spring

This morning, instead of getting up and immediately making coffee, checking email, or reading the paper, I sat on the front step for a few minutes and looked around the neighborhood. Rain was falling, and the damp air smelled of mud. A squirrel scrambled up a treetrunk, ran out across a thin branch, paused, and then sprang to another tree. In a distant treetop, a bird sang the same two notes over and over.



The mornings are growing lighter, and the birds are growing louder. The bulbs are starting to poke up through the dirt, reminding me it's less than two weeks until spring.