I told him I'd write about Springtime

     My "doom and gloom" friend walked in the door again yesterday, bright and early in the morning.
     "How come you're not writing your blog anymore?"
     I didn't even turn around, just said, "I am."
     "Well, I haven't seen it lately," he continued.  "When you gonna write again?"
     "Today," I said.  "Today.  I'm going to write about Springtime."
     He turned and went out the door, then turned and opened the door again.
     "Well, 'bout time.  It's been here for a while."
     And he was gone.

     Springtime is here.  When I came to work this morning, I saw all the color-busting azaleas, the dark pink redbud blooms, little yellow jonquils, and coral-flowered quince bushes.  But I knew it was really Springtime because the trees at a certain place on Fifth Avenue were filled with lavender wisteria.  Before you know it, the whole street, from 15th Street to Fifth Street will smell like a perfume factory.
     Our library is fortunate to have a host of groundskeepers from the Colquitt County Correctional Center.  Today as I drove past the front entrance, I saw fellows on mowers, with grass blowers, hedge trimmers, and sidewalk trimmers.  They were not only working around the library, but they were cleaning and clearing Bert Harsh Park, which is adjacent to the library.
     We not only have rose bushes, but pink loropetalum across the front of the building.  And in the Park the crabapple tree will be blooming before long.  We have tons of trees around the library and in the Park, and people have been working in the Community Garden again.
     Our Park is so lovely that a wedding will be held there this evening at 6:30.  (Another reason the groundskeepers are cleaning and clearing today.)
     This past fall, we saw a good many people in the Park picking up pecans.  At all times people are visiting the Park to eat at the picnic tables, and often mothers and babysitters bring little children for snacks and lunch and running around.
     There was a time when I took my Subway sandwich and coke into the Park, sat on the scrolly-iron bench near the sundial, and did a watercolor of what I saw nearby.  That day the tall trees shot up toward a bright blue sky filled with white cotton clouds.  It's a day I remember fondly.
     It's at times like this, in the middle of March, when I want to be outside all the time.  When I want to take a good book and sit in a comfortable chair on the lawn or at the pond and read until I get so drowsy that my eyes close.  It's at times like this when I want to walk the length of Tallokas Road and look at all the flowers in everyone's yards, when I want to park my car near one of the little lakes and just sit and smell the wonderful air.
     It's Springtime, y'all.  And so, Mr. Doom and Gloom, after you read, this you need to take yourself outside and let the Springtime freshness sweep through your hair and brush your cheek and put a lively step in your day.
     Then come back and tell me you read the blog.