Well, who would have imagined? Spring is officially here and last night we heard the first peepers of the season. We awoke to a “heavy drizzle,” a concept I would have thought was an oxymoron. Now fog has settled over the village making it a challenge to discern what’s fog and what’s drizzle, and where one begins or ends. No matter, Nori has settled atop the sofa where she can easily observe the outside world while listening to the music. Every now and then a crow lands in the field.
Today is the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, which means days will now become rapidly longer. It is also the 300th anniversary of the publishing of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons! To mark the occasion BBC Radio 3 is playing music inspired by both Vivaldi’s, and nature’s, four seasons. Listening has been great fun!
Today is also the first full day of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, March Madness. That means 32 games will be televised over the next two days, 48 games by weekend’s end. Actually, the women’s tournament begins formally on Friday so I have given up counting. This afternoon, all over the country, business productivity will plunge.
This being New England, winter may well make a return before spring settles in for good. There can be deep cold, snow, and ice. This makes growing fruit an uncertain enterprise as a hard freeze after the fruit trees bloom can doom the crop. We have had snow storms as late as Mother’s Day.
Speaking of ice storms, today is my daughter’s birthday. (Happy Birthday!) She was a spring equinox gift and arrived in the midst of an ice storm. She was a few days too early so off we went for the long white knuckle drive to the hospital. Of course all turned out splendidly and makes a great addition to Vermont folklore.

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