Folks here in Minnesota have had a long winter season this year. In the last week or two, temperatures were still below 10 degrees Fahrenheit on some days, and one day dipped to -12 including windchill. Yesterday was the first day where the weather crept up above 40 degrees, and everyone in the office seems a bit more cheerful.
Spring brings flowers and rebirth and longer days and yadda yadda… but in places where winter is harsh, spring also signals the switch being thrown to ON for events like outdoor festivals, bike races, street fairs and the like. Here in Minnesota, people emerge from their buildings on the first days of spring, blinking in the sunlight like moles. And then they do their best to not go indoors again until forced to do so.
Quick, tell me: what springtime event are you most looking forward to? (Alternately, if you’re in the southern hemisphere, what autumn event are you most looking forward to?)
My answer(s):
I’m looking forward to the day I can walk outside and the air is warmer than it is indoors.
I’m looking forward to Bar Crawl, when I gather with about thirty local friends and walk from Minneapolis bar to Minneapolis bar for an entire day, enjoying sunshine, friendship, and libations. There’s something lovely about downtown Minneapolis on a bright, warm day.
Yet perhaps I’m most looking forward to just going outside for a walk. When the paths are no longer covered with snow, I like to take my work breaks outdoors. The grounds at The Day Job include walking trails through urban prairie preserve and around ponds, meaning a walk after lunch means running into things like muskrats, snowy egrets, Baltimore orioles, redwing blackbirds, and flocks of wild turkeys. I’m really looking forward to reinstating a ritual of daily wildlife encounters.
I’m looking forward to planting herbs on my balcony and taking my bike out for a trial run of my commute.
I’m looking forward to wearing fewer layers, and to breaking out my bohemian skirts again. So comfortable and breezy!
I’m also looking forward to super-long “let’s walk four miles while we have a meeting” work events. 🙂
looking forward to it being warm enough to put my big coat away. Seriously, this time last year it was 17C. Today? 2C. I realise that’s warmer than where you are, but it’s still chuffin’ parky.
Spring in Houston means that I am looking forward to… November.
Last week, on Monday, we reached 90° for the first time this year. Mid-April generally marks the end of pleasant weather in Houston, so I am nearing the time of year when I hose down the dog before and after every walk, watch my flowers wilt and die depsite almost daily waterings, and checking compulsively for signs of foudnation shifts.
The only things I have to look forward to at this time of year are hockey playoffs and central air.
The smell of wet dirt in the air. We don’t really get that here, it’s actually the smell of spring at my parent’s house, when the top of the hill thaws out and tries to slide down the driveway.