Life in a Dead Zone

Spring is my favorite time of the year.  I love watching for the first signs, robins on the lawn, the flowers of the crocus by the rain spout and the daffodils in the gardens.  I can't wait to email my friends and family in the north to brag about the arrival of spring here while they are still under of a cover of white for the next two months.

The robins were here a few weeks ago and then it turned cold and they went away.  The crocus bloomed, but they often do that even when snow is still on the ground.  The leaves of the daffodils have pushed their way through the ground and even formed their buds.  But still I wait for them to bloom and shine their yellow faces towards the sun.

It's been very rainy and cold this spring and I thought our blooms were slow in showing up. On my way to do some grocery shopping I noticed that everywhere outside our valley daffodils and jonquils are blooming.  Along the highway I saw ornamental fruit trees and magnolias all in flower, looking beautiful and glorious.  Yards are full of blooms of every kind.  Clumps of daffodils are blooming furiously along paths and woods that were once tended but now grow in a natural state.

It was as if I'd stepped into another world.  As I returned home I wondered if I'd find our flowers and trees in bloom.  Maybe it had all happened while I was away, maybe today was the day spring finally popped and I'd witnessed it first along my travels to the store!  Alas, upon my return home there were no masses of smiling, yellow daffodils to greet me, just a single one here and there.  I'm beginning to think our valley is a dead zone.

 I must be patient and wait for Mother Nature to get around to us.  I'm keeping an eye out for the robins to return.  That could be a sign that spring will be returning to our valley.  I'm hoping she hasn't forgotten us.