A Favorite Event

       Despite my general disinterest in active participation with nature, I do notice (and appreciate) some aspects of the natural world around me.  

       We have had some lovely summery weather here. The crocuses and daffodils bloomed long ago. The herbs in the garden of our condo complex are already plentiful.  But I have been waiting impatiently for one particular Spring event. 

       Although it no doubt has been happening for eons, I first noticed it a couple of years ago, and it has delighted me every year since then. And because I have been traveling quite a bit recently, I even worried that this Spring occurrence, which lasts only a day or two, would happen while I was away.

       But it started yesterday, and I was here to see it...

       Many of the trees in our neighborhood have remained bare through our otherwise lovely Spring. For weeks, I have looked at and worried over the naked branches. Perhaps it is simply because my vision has become worse over the last year, but  I could see only hard-looking brownish balls where the leaves should be. I feared that the trees had been stricken by disease.   

       But yesterday, several of the trees suddenly woke with a slight green, nearly fuzzy-looking glow. Although the branches were still bare, I knew that something was about to happen. 

       And today, only one day later, the baby leaves are starting to emerge. By tomorrow or the next day, the naked winter branches will be covered with new bright green growth. 

       It wouldn't be like to me to wax poetic about it, but it is clearly a sign of re-birth and change...and certainly an indication of the consistent power of nature.

       Readers: Do you have a favorite nature occurrence like this?  Please post your replies. Perhaps we can learn to better see such moments through each other's eyes...