As you drive around the highways and byways of Northeast Pa do you take notice the wonderful profusion of color that just seems to appear this time of year? All of a sudden, and it does seem like it’s over night, the hills are alive with daffodils and crocus and forsythia so bright it seems like their must be a light source hidden in the branches.
I like seeing the lawns and gardens around people’s houses. I know how hard it is to keep them looking good. But the real thrill for me is seeing in the middle of an untended patch a stand of daffodils.
Daffodils strike me as the comedian of the flower world. First of all they have a stupid name. And, I mean look at the things. A long sort of snout like flower and big collar around it. They look like a cartoon character. They last only a few weeks then they are gone till next year. But for those few weeks I am glad enough to see them that I will point them out to passengers in my car.
And the forsythia. Sometimes so bright that on a dark rainy day you have to believe they have stored up the sun to release it in blinding yellow fluorescence. Very soon all the buds on the trees will burst forth with leaves and all will be green.
The grass will grow and will need to be cut. The everyday workaday world will once again take it’s toll on airhead motorists pointing at flowers by the side of the road.
But for now the little splashes of color here and there are a true sign of nature’s assurance that we have made it thru another winter and deserve a little break.
