The Warmth of Tulips

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

Anne Bradstreet, first published female writer in the British North American colonies (1612-1672)

The temperatures outside remain cool but my soul rebounds with warmth gazing upon the yellow tulips that came home with me from the grocery store. They are cheery nourishment for the soul.

There's Hope!

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.

Sir Bernard Williams, English philosopher (1929-2003)

Happy Spring everyone! It has been a long, cold winter -- or so it has seemed as frigid temperatures lasted for days on end and successive snowstorms blustered their way through town heaping snow upon snow. But there is hope!

This week I heard the first chirps of the sparrows in the train station's rafters and a red-winged blackbird calling for his mate on my walk to work. Happily, she answered. And the gardeners arrived to unwrap the trees from their burlap coats. The cedars didn't appear quite ready to unfurl their limbs just yet, perhaps it is still a little cold. But there is hope!

In my own little abode, hope came in the tiny flowers of an African violet. Against all odds, given my past history in nurturing plants, my adopted violet is blooming! There is hope!