What is your favorite harbinger of spring?

For me, growing up in Maine, it was the sound of spring peepers whirring in the evening in late April.

Here on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, my favorite harbinger of spring is the aroma of apple blossoms wafting up from Riverside Park.

'nuff said.

;)

Or seeing lines of people standing outside of Dairy Queen, which is closed from Nov thru mid-March.

Cool, crisp air off Lake Michigan on a sunny afternoon ...
Little flower buds trying to peek up thru the old dead soil ...


:hippie:

Her's is on March 20--1st day of spring, or nearly, depending on the year.

I love to see the huge flocks flying northward.

I also enjoy the reappearance of the bright mountain bluebirds.

in the garden; I just love watching all the little plants grow. They are like my babies...I love seeing their progress day by day.

It's a Northwest thing. It bloomed two weeks early this year. It's going to be a comparatively hot summer here.



edited for spelling

The blooms of a redbud tree and the smell of sweet olive. The love dance of cardinals around the Magnolia. The drunken catterwalling of mocking birds chowing down on holly tree nectar. Hot spicy crawfish and ice cold beer consumed on the bayou after a St Patty's Day Parade. And the ultimate; azalea blooms (any day now).

and catching fairy shrimp. I like to see what new animals we find in there as the weeks progress.

INSANE.

The fragrance is SO toxic and heady, I have to close my french doors at night; it's TOO fragrant!!!

Which is fine because it blooms til about October. I think the Ventura County weather has a lot to do with it, because our summer means fog. Looking out the window, it looks like summer right now.

The pink jasmine is going nuts right now, and is soon to be followed by the star (aka confederate) jasmine.

Yes, I have 3 different jasmines, all planted in my backyard under my bedroom window, and they all bloom in different seasons so I can smell jasmine almost all year!

Me included. :D

also like robins and cardinals:)

protesting Dubya's latest outrage.

On March 22, as I recall. A beautiful day to protest the start of the war.

on the trees. I love that color! You only see it for a couple of weeks every year in the spring.

The return of songbirds. Cherryblossoms. Daffodils. They show up virtually before anything else. :D

On convertibles that is.

they were:

pussy willows

spring peepers

woodcock doing their mating flights in the hay field

the smell of the earth in the warm sun after the snow melted away

and wading through snow drifts to go trout fishing in the brook behind the house on opening day....

It ain't the same here in FL...

and I lived 12 years in the Keys. I missed the seasons so much,I had to come back....to New England,anyway. I haven't made it out of Massachusetts yet:)

We made gallons of maple syrup each spring from the trees in the yard.

After my Mom kicked my Dad's stovetop operation outside (something about a houseful of burned maple syrup smoke) we'd collect the sap all week in big plastic garbage cans, then spend the weekend boiling it down over an open fire (and drinking more than a few six packs of beer).

Our big 'ol Maine Coon Cat would spend all night outside with us snugggled up on one of our laps.

And smelting in the local brooks too. A good excuse to get drunk, sometimes we'd even catch some.

Fried smelts for breakfast - mmmmmm!

And Fiddleheads! Jeesh, how could I forget!

My Dad had a "secret" patch up the road and would bring home a bushel or two each spring. We'd blanch and freeze a bunch and eat them on special occasions.

damn I want to go home...

:)

I have a lot of similar memories. We didn't tap our maples more than a couple of years, but we got some mighty sweet syrup out of them! Ayuh!

they're calling here, as are the upland chorus frogs and a few confused american toads and gray treefrogs. Gods yes! Spring at last!The critters are a callin' me down to the low places.
Pity you live in The City, perhaps there are some peepers in Central Park.

;)

It's the crocuses I planted last fall that are now blooming, and the tulips that are about 3 inches tall, and the irises that have come up. I love flowers!

Woof!

I think I'd prefer "birds chirping"...

;)

as I left for work today.

im pretty sure i spelled none of that right.. but thats what we have a lot of around here.... and its super-nice!! =)

Spring in Texas is gorgeous! :bounce:

and robins...but in Pittsburgh we're expecting up to 6" of snow overnight and tomorrow. I HAVE HAD IT WITH SNOW!!!! :grr:

Add...Grape hyacinths, pink tulips, and sitting outside on weekends for brekky at Cafe Brazil or Dream Cafe. And wonderful balmy Saturdays antiquing in McKinney.

You sensitive man, you. :)

nuff said.

the Peregrine falcons up on the electric poles doing the same and the Monarch butterflies mating in midflight. Darn, my backyard is a regular brothel with Mother Nature's creatures celebrating the rites of spring.

Especially Cub games. Watching the trees bud is good too.

Twins games, of course, are first choice.

Music to my soul!



from this site:
http://www.wpconline.org/dailyphotos/wpcdaily-321.asp

Oh. Wait. I thought you said hamburger...

Nevermind.

I hate spring :(

the gardening displays in the local stores. I love buying my seeds early and spending a few weeks designing the garden I want to plant them in. :)

And asparagus in the market. Yum!

And then I get hayfever. Shit

I leave the office around that time, and I can almost -- almost -- drive home without the headlights now.

When I can, I know that spring has arrived!

I usually hear them somewhere around the end of February. Heard them last week for the first time this year.

Two sure signs of spring in central Illinois. :)

I love this time of year

This long lovely thread should have belonged to ME!! I said it first! :bounce:

And by the way, you're ALL dingbats now. ;-)

Lilacs are my favorite harbinger of spring.