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The Canadian West Coast Winter has been mild-grey-dreary and wet this past year. The sun looked at us through a blue-bright dry lens yesterday for the first time since summer. We could feel the sun’s warmth during the afternoon. Everything seemed to know that spring is coming. The lawn and the garden the birds and the animals all seem to sense it. I know it is coming too. I made the first cut of my mossy front lawn and walked across its plush clean green - seen softness. Moisture seems to hold in it and the moss is so alive after the moist mild winter that it seems to emit its own soft greenish light. A push-mower catcher full of its fuzzy clippings is so different from June’s coarse-dry-dark-green-bladed crop that I have learned winter is the moss season while late spring and autumn belong to the grasses. Summer is dry and brown for my lawn but the dog sleeps on it softly all year round.
I weeded the gardens last weekend and they look brand new among the green mossy lawns. The plants and trees all seem healthy and seem full of good expectations even the ones that are leafless. I like this time of year – just in front of an inevitable spring that is coming. This is the season when doors and windows begin to open even if they have just been cleaned. Open windows and doors let the music out and the air inside allowing crisp air and love to mingle everywhere. I will wait without thought to send the sweet alder smell of fall and winter up my chimney but I will send blessings for my family when that day arrives. Winter in the woods can be a quiet time of contemplation while spring can invite color and movement back to our world
