“It’s a little chilly, there’s a bit of fresh snow on the ground.” Often that is the way we talk about spring as it shakes off winter. We can’t have spring without at least one or two quick shifts from warming trends to a little snow. Sometimes it is more than just a little.
Warm days begin to string together. The piles of snow start to look dirty and to shrink in size. The top-most layer of ground is moist and feels soft underfoot. But the earth is still frozen in layers below. There haven’t been enough consecutive warm days to release the depths of soil from the grip of winter. However, we know that spring will continue to emerge.
At times our human understanding perceives the transition from one season to another as a slow development process. The changes back and forth in spring from warmth to snow may even increase our perspective of a slow progression. No matter, it is without a doubt that we know spring is on the way, just as day follows night.
People are impatient. We want what we want when we want it. The difficulty sometimes lies in finding joy in the changes from one season to the next, especially when we are in a hurry to see the longer hours of sunlight that comes with spring. We see the light changing, minute by minute and hour by hour, and the skilled photographer can preserve the most beautiful moment. But that is only a single moment in the passing of time. The seasons continue to develop and grow in their time. Spring will soon be in full bloom before we know it, usually after winter gives us a final cold snap.