SPRING...THE CRUELEST SEASON?

I love living in Utah. I'm a mountain guy and living in the mountains brings four seasons. I do a lot of musing about the seasons, the virtues and blessings of each. I love them all and welcome the arrival of each and to a lesser extent, mourn their passing.

My relationship with spring has been the most ambivalent. For many it brings the excitement of a new birth, a fresh start, an awakening, a coming out after a long, cold winter, longer days, more daylight. Easter brings the promise of the of the resurrection which adds to the symbolism of the season.

I've found the reality of spring to be much different. Sure, we have our warm sunlit days in spring here, where the bulbs begin to sprout and the birds sing. But just as often, spring brings blustery cold winds, rain, snow, mud and lingering cold. It baits you, tempts you and then quickly abandons you.

Spring in the east, where we have had the privilege of living two different times seems to be a little more predictable than here in the Rockies. It certainly is more colorful, with it's tulip trees in early spring and azaleas and dogwoods coming later. Here, we often go from cloudy and cool to hot with not much of a pleasant transition in between, without an abundance of color to show for it .

This year I've decided to change my attitude about the season and embrace all of it's unpredictability and look more closely for it's unique beauty. I've not been disappointed. I'm in no hurry for it to go. I'm savoring it (well, except for the wind).

Below is a short video I took today of our deck and trees in a spring snowstorm. What you're really seeing is here is me experimenting with the video feature of a new camera.