a breath of spring

One of the things I miss the most about living in the South is the breath of spring that comes right about now. Living in Dayton, where the air is filled only with snow and ice, where every exhalation freezes almost as soon as it leaves on the wings of my breath, it's hard to imagine that spring will EVER arrive. And it's even harder to forget that not long ago I was living in a place where life would begin anew towards the end of February, where the earliest of spring blossoms would poke through the cold ground, where the urge to till the earth and make things grow would be easily fulfilled in less than a month's time. Last year, in Dayton, I don't think it felt like Spring until April. And probably not until the end of April, at that. And so as I anticipate another month or more of this interminable cold, I must deal with this intense cabin fever and the stir crazy desire to shed the winter clothes and frolic on some sun-filled beach somewhere, soaking in sunshine and the sweet smell of warmth and tranquility born on sea breezes. So I content myself with a glimpse of what Spring looks like in places I've been. And I share them with you, in the hopes that you will soon see winter's surrender, and spring will again be born in your direction on the freshest of warm winds.

Spring in Cades Cove and the Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee