South-central Alaska is turning bright green with fresh leaves on trees and shrubs and renewed grass in lawns. Some ornamentals, like my apples and lilacs, have barely budded yet, so the transformation from the black-and-white winter isn't complete yet. Once I remove the remaining leaves from my flower beds, they should start to show more green, too.
I'm finally emerging from 'the winter of my soul,' too (ok - a bit dramatic). Thanks, little Alex, for hanging on until late winter so I'd have the new life of spring to revive me. Anne Frank is correct that Nature brings solace. We spent two cool, cloudy, windy days on a gravel bar on the Susitna River this past weekend. I didn't do much other than eat, sleep, talk, and huddle around the camp fire. I'm not sure what happened, but I passed some sort of grief threshold. Now my gratitude for caring for and being cared for by a 12 lb calico outweighs the emptiness of not having her here (most of the time).
