IT'S HERE!!!

"Nature's first green is..."

Green!

Is there any sight more lovely to winter-weary eyes than early wheat sprouting in the fields? When everything else is still dull brown, last year's faded gray, the winter wheat comes along and paints this field and that impossibly, eye-popping emerald.

Then, as if inspired by the boldness of the wheat - such shocking green! - the jewel weed fairies sneak out at night and paint the yet unplanted fields purple. Purple?! Outrageous.

It rained again last night. The rain looked clear, splashing in my hand, but it must in reality have been some kind of magical, multicolored paint. This morning, the maples are swelling pink. The forsythia, terrestrial sunbursts tethered here and there against the humble grass's shyer green.

The Greening - makes me feel like a kid on Christmas Eve!