Spring!

The Parkway is open! I opened the roof of my car, rolled down the windows (do we still say that?) and took my first drive-through of the season. Oh joy! Oh, unimaginable bliss!

There were all kinds of water fowl; common mergansers, cormorants, a few loons (other than me!), mallards and lots of Canada geese. The geese were everywhere - they did not seem to welcome the intrusion...do they ever? Would I?

And the birds! Oh! The birds!!! The chirrupping and singing and calling! At no other time of year is there such a cacophony! They seem to greet each other after a long winter spent in far off lands. The bushes tremble with their constant movement. Red-winged blackbirds searching for a fresh meal, finally available. Crows, catching a thermal, circling lazily in the clear, blue sky. Swallows chasing each other joyously.

Red squirrels and chipmunks dash across the road, beaver lodges shed their final icy encasements. The river, a frozen mass just days ago, is now mostly open, a glittering display of indigo, turquoise and emerald green. Maples show off bursting buds of red flowers - birches stretch ghostly limbs up towards the sun.

Anyone passing me must surely think I'm crazy...I'm driving so slowly, not wanting to miss a thing, and grinning and yes, laughing out loud at the beauty of it all.