I am so ready for spring this year (although I seem to say that every year - take a look at last year's post). After a long and cold and very snowy (at least in my short recent memory) winter I am thirsty for comforting warmth, sneeze-inducing sunshine and joyful greenery. And the signs are definitely there beyond the calendar's spring equinox announcement yesterday. My yoga teacher reminded us yesterday that while birth is synonymous with exuberance, it is also associated with pain. And shifting from winter to spring is a bit like waking gradually from a deep slumber. So, when stretching our body in expansiveness, ready for exercise and movement, we need to do so slowly and gradually to prepare ourselves gently for more vigorous exercise and greater energy intake. So it is good that the temperatures zig-zag up slowly, some days are warmer, some days are still quite cold. It takes a while for our body to get used to warmer temperatures.

Early spring flowers grow very slowly through the packed wet leaf cover. The last of the snow is receding in my garden, although it may take until April for the large snow mountains on the big box stores' parking lots to melt away. This time of year I love to bring some bare fruit tree branches from the garden into the house. Soon enough, and ahead of nature outside, the buds burst open with tiny leaves.

Somehow it is always thrilling to watch this reemergence of life. Ahhhh, another spring, a new beginning, in the eternal cycle of life.