View of the Equinox from Here 3/21/2021

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

Spring snuck up on me this year.  One minute there were the light dustings of blossom from stray pear trees and the occasional wild plum out in the bare grey woods and now suddenly everything already has leaves.  When did that happen?  I suppose it’s appropriate considering, at the time this blog publishes we are already officially into the season now since we’re one day past equinox.  It seemed to me though that the weather got just the slightest bit warmer and suddenly the whole of the season just burst upon me.  I have nothing against spring. I guess this is just another case of time whizzing by. That tends to get more substantial as I get older I have noticed.  But here it is, the season of warmth and blossoms is upon us.  I do enjoy flowers.  I am not opposed to warmth, and I specify warmth because I am in fact adamantly opposed to any form of heat that goes beyond warmth, so really I like spring in that regard that it isn’t overbearing and obnoxious with its temperatures like some seasons *cough summer cough*.  So since the season in all its blooming glory is here I decided to write a bit about what I am experiencing these days. I don’t really intend to tell you about spring and all I love about it but really my goal I suppose is to take you on a journey through my comings and goings and tell you what this time of year has shown me thus far.  I guess this is a little seasonal trip around my home area.  Perhaps it will paint a picture for you in your mind’s eye. It may have brushstrokes you are familiar with, and perhaps some that you aren’t. Either way I hope to present an image that either makes you smile with familiarity or wonder with intrigue.  If I fail to achieve either, then perhaps glancing at this picture will be if nothing else a way to pass the time.

The bulk of the road home from work for me runs along side a railroad track.  On one of my journeys home recently I didn’t even notice the train running alongside me. I daresay I was too involved in the music to which I was listening to pay much attention to the constant rumble running along beside me.  It wasn’t until I heard the horn, the horn that made me jump a foot while driving, that I looked to see the large metal boxes barreling down those tracks parallel to me.  After my initial glance of annoyance to the train for scaring me, my next sight immediately propelled me into smiles.  In a driveway of a home lay two dogs.  These dogs both had their heads flung back and mouths narrowed into an “o” shape as they proceeded to howl in unison with the trains horn. They laid comfortably carrying out their song as I’m sure was their custom but just the visual was enough to merit a chuckle. It may not read as funny as it was to witness but I assure you it was very amusing.

Speaking of that railroad track, a few hundred yards beyond where the dogs and the train performed their musical ensemble, along the other side of that track is a thick edge of forest and at this time of year it is becoming blanketed in purple. The wisteria is just starting to bloom and, with as fast as this season is moseying along, will soon be a veritable wall of dangling and fragrant purple blooms.  I remember when I was a child, and I suppose still to this day in the back of my mind, thinking wisteria blossoms looked like grapes with their purple color and shape in a hanging cluster.  I love how they are just nondescript vines tangled amongst the trees any other time of year except for a few weeks in the early part of this season when suddenly they are a bright mantle draped over most every bit of greenery that they get near. The majesty is short lived but spectacular.

Speaking of viney springtime blossoms, wisteria is certainly not the only blossom available for discussion.  There is another that is just inconspicuous tangles in trees at any other time of year but for a fleeting what seems like moments in the early spring are absolutely mesmerizing.  The scent of jasmine is probably my most favorite of floral fragrances.  It is most certainly my favorite yellow thing that happens in trees this time of year. There is that other thing which will not be named that are the reproductive powders of the loathsome pines that is covering everything right now that is also yellow but I shall not acknowledge it because it does not deserve the recognition.  It will be gone soon and I shall rejoice in its exit. See, the foul substance has riled me to the point that I was distracted from my beloved jasmine. Not all yellow is created equal. Some smells like Heaven’s centerpieces, other is the refuse from Hell’s air filter.

I don’t know that there was any deep meaningful sentiment that I was hoping to communicate with all I’ve written here.  I just wanted to let you join me on a little springtime meander I suppose.  I hope your springtime wherever you are is filled with the most fragrant blossoms. I hope all the robins in your yard have the reddest breasts.  I hope all your canine friends harmonize perfectly with whatever train they hear.  May your breezes be cool and your sunshine be warm blending to make the perfect air that is the exact measurement of just right.  And I hope the most fragrant little trumpets of spent jasmine are the only thing yellow blowing from your trees.