Spring?

For the first time in 44 years I am not ready for spring.  Typically by now, the bare branches and brown grass have worn out their welcome.  Normally, the sarongs that I wear all summer long would be beckoning to me from the drawer that does not get opened for 9 months of the year.  Any rise in temperature should be sending happy hormones pumping through my veins.  Not this year.

With only enough snowfall to get me out on my new skis twice this winter, even in Maine the season was a non-event.  I never even got stuck at the bottom of an icy hill once this year in my crappy car; while it was a biweekly event last winter.  There weren't many reasons to hole up at home in front of a fire.  Perhaps that is why when it was time to be inward, still and introspective, I was energetic, creative and expansive.  And now, just when the birds are singing, quite loudly at the moment, I'm tired.  For weeks I've been exhausted and starved.  Eating everything in sight and sleeping much longer than usual.  My mind has been too quiet.  Like a bear preparing for hibernation just at the time it should be venturing out.

There was a story on the news about apple orchards being at risk of losing much of their crops because of the unusually warm weather.  The fruit mature too early or another frost can come and damage them at a crucial point in their development.  One owner of an orchard said that similar conditions a few years ago caused him to drop from his average yield of 40,000 bushels to merely 3,000.  Can people also be stunted in their development if they are out of rhythm?  If so, I wonder if there are any fixes to get back to the natural order of things.