Spring is on the Horizon

Ogden Dunes Shoreline, February 2015. Reminder: Stay off the Shelf Ice!

It’s been cold. Really cold. But, spring is on the horizon,  I promise! Squint at the photo and i think you can see it –waaaay back there.

Aside from a somewhat “balmy” weekend, the past 10 days have been brutal. Last Thursday and Friday brought us a high of 5° with wind chills that were 20 to 30 below. Today is not much better. We’ve had 2 hour delays and school closings. We’ve had snow, high winds and drifts. The 10 day forecast does not look good.

This is the part of winter that can get so very hard. February is supposed to be the month that shows us a nice warm 40 degree day, maybe even 50, but it’s not looking like we are going to get there this year!

Happiness on that first warm day!

So why do we do it? Why do we live here? I can tell you why I do. It’s because every year when we think we can’t take winter anymore, we get that day that gives us a taste of spring. It’s a day that those poor unlucky folks in California and Florida can’t even comprehend. It’s the day that I drive around town with the windows rolled down and the Grateful Dead turned up. Everyone is outside. Everyone is smiling. It makes these cold winter months SO worth it. You all know that day, right? That day is just around the corner. I can feel it.

March 14, 2012 – early spring? or summer?!

I’ve been taking photos almost daily for about three years now. Because of that, I can look through them and remember what our seasons were like. Each series of photos sparks a memory. I can remember where I was, who I was with and what the day was like. I decided to look back through the years and find one of my favorite spring days. Because of our hard winters the last couple years, I had to go all the way back to 2012 to find an early spring, but it was there. I remember it clearly. It was March 14, 2012. I was on the beach drinking the last of my Bell’s Hopslam (one of my all time favorite beers!)  The kids were swimming (splashing) in the water. I even got out on my kayak that week. The earliest ever. We were very lucky that year and I don’t know if we can expect something like that again, but yes, spring will get here eventually. Even in this cold, i’m beginning to hear the birds start to chirp. The sun is getting warmer. Yesterday’s high was in the 20’s but it didn’t seem that bad.

The daffodils will bloom once again.

So, hang in there everyone. When the freezing wind is blowing in your face, when the snow is falling in March, when you are cursing me and my “embrace winter” photos, remember the day will arrive when you kick the snow and dead leaves out of the way and that first daffodil has popped out of the soil. Before you know it, they will be everywhere. The shelf ice will eventually melt and your bare feet will touch the sand once again.  It may seem like forever right now, but it will be here before you know it.

Heck, Redamaks opens in SIX days. Spring is already here.

Keep digging those dunes! ~ Eve