A few days from now we will hit the official Spring Equinox. On and around The Urban Porch, things are happening. Rain has been softening the earth to quench and coax emerging growth. Sun-warmed, once again the crocus and the tiniest first daffodils have popped up in vibrant Easter basket colors.

The first bee and first ant also made their spring debut together in the yard today.

The fig tree that was cut back and brought inside to winter over has begun to sprout leaves. It is still parked in a corner of the dining room. How does it know when to begin?

To mark St. Patrick’s Day, the fence dinosaur down the street has been dressed for the occasion.

Wrapped in a long coat and standing out on the porch between 2:00 – 3:00 am afforded the gift of watching a total lunar eclipse. Mesmerizing as always, it continually leaves one with a sense of wonder. My phone camera was unable to do the vision justice, yet I still attempted to capture it in the moment.

In tandem with the slow greening of March, this week I came across and admired a beautiful piece of malachite that reminded me of clouds building on a horizon, or the shape of a Buddhist cloud in art, or perhaps a Turkey Tail mushroom. Nature mimics art mimics nature.

Faced with a wall of different types of artisan chocolates (if chocolate happens to be your thing) was something difficult to resist…..

The Dutch Baby of the week was Pear/Blueberry/Cinnamon, drizzled with maple syrup once plated.

Little Rudi’s assortment of winter sweaters and tee shirts can soon be packed away. He takes pleasure basking in the warmth of porch sunlight.

I sit out there with him, enjoying how the late afternoon rays reflect off the stripes in my 1960’s Janis Joplin-style velvet pants, making them sparkle (cheap thrills!)

The faded earth/bird flag above the door waves on the breeze beneath a Crayola sky. Such a beautiful, hopeful day.

Tonight on our dog walk I was surprised to see a few moths fluttering beneath the street lights, even though the air began to cool down by evening. Moths! I guess it has really begun.

Tomorrow I am going for the annual haircut, a spring ritual. Not that it ever really is in control, but right now this hair is very much out of control. The thing about very curly hair is that when it is wet, or if you “un-boing” and stretch out a strand, you can see it becomes many inches longer than it appears, growing out instead of down. Suddenly there is a lot more than you thought there was – reaching a tipping point where it doesn’t behave. I would say that is one of the Banes of Having Curly Hair, the misbehaving.

My parents used to call me “la strega” when I was a kid, partially (just partially!) because of the wild, uncontrollable hair. It was already enough back then. But when People My Age have very long crazy hair it can sometimes appear a bit “Agggghhhhh”! As always, I’m a little anxious about the once or twice a year cut. I’ve mentioned this often in the past – how disconcerting it is after all the snip-snipping is finished – when you glance down at the clippings by your feet and it looks like an opossum is playing dead on the floor.

Also, the last couple of times I had my hair cut I ended up with kind of a Cleopatra hair thing happening, except frizzy, and in gray. Every time I mention “Please don’t give me Cleopatra hair,” I still come out with that same blunt cut anyway. Then it takes a few painful, self-conscious weeks until it normalizes. After that it will look okay for a while, with even a few Good Hair Days (weather permitting), until it reaches critical mass again.

In any case, removing an excess of winter growth and starting anew with the spring should feel good.

Soon I will be making my way west to visit my family and partake of two springs again (see Two Springs, 5/02/24 from last year for a glimpse). Very much looking forward to it, but not thrilled about flying these days.

Renewed hope as we head into the Spring Equinox. We all could use a bit of hope right now.

~*~