Sounds of Spring

I heard a robin on my morning walk the other day. The first one this spring, clear, confident, optimistic. Looking for the early worm?

A day later, when we traveled near Waupun, I saw several flocks of Canada Geese winging north, calling to each other and to us. Sounds of seasonal change. Announcements of spring.

I remember well the sounds of spring when I was a kid, and how we looked forward to them after a long and hard central Wisconsin winter. Some sounds were subtle such as the dripping of melting snow from the barn roof. Other sounds were melodious, at least for me. A small gully in the twenty-acre field north of our farmstead had been filled with field stones to stop the washing. When the snow melted, it ran through and over the rocks making the most beautiful of sounds.

Some spring sounds were loud and window rattling. The first thunderstorm of the season for instance.

Are you listening? Spring is announcing its presence.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: In spring we shake loose the shackles of winter and make big plans and think big thoughts. We celebrate what has passed and look forward to the future with joy and hope.


UPCOMING EVENTS:


March 17, Watertown Public Library, 6:30 p.m. Lighter Side of Country Living

March 19, Fond du Lac Public Library, 6:00 p.m. Chili supper. UW-FDL Commons and Prairie Theater. Featuring LIVING A COUNTRY YEAR.

Spring is in the Air

Spring is in the air. I can smell it. I can hear it. I heard a robin singing this morning--no worms yet for this early bird--but it's here, its feathers fluffed with the cold, its song clear and strong. And the striking red cardinals are whistling their hearts out, happy about the coming of spring.

The sound of spring I remember most is that of melt water trickling through a stone pile in a gully in the big field just north of our old farm house. On a snow melting day I'd mush my way out to the field, sometimes with my dad, sometimes alone, and just stand there, listening. It was a tinkling sound, like that of a breeze teasing a glass chandelier. Subtle but definite. A sure sign that spring was just around the corner, although we often couldn't yet see the corner.

The Old Timer says: "A long cold winter helps us appreciate so much more the other three seasons of the year."