Monday, March 31, 2008

Spring Cleaning?

For the past month, my fellow residents of Madison, WI and I have been wondering if today will be the first day of real spring. March has been less "in like a lion, out like a lamb" and more "in like a piranha, out like a barracuda," but seasonal changes, though subtle, have definitely occurred. Some signs of spring in the land of the long winter:

Proving that there really are only two seasons: winter and construction. State Street is torn up for some sort of pipe extraction installation exercise, reducing pedestrian space by about 90%, but at least we know that winter is on the wane!

Not to mention that the bulldozers look lovely dozing in the fading light.

The lakes are still frozen, but at least the huge banks of accumulated snow and ice have melted away. Like receding glaciers, they've exposed hidden treasures and left rubbish in their wake, so that I keep expecting to see a mammoth tusk on my way to campus.

We may not have any blossoming trees or actual flowers of any kind, but I'll settle for green shoots like these that are finally starting to emerge. And to really seal the deal, these two ducks camped out on my driveway and calmly let me take their picture, as if to say in a pompous tone: "We claim this ground for spring."

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