Small Spring Miracles

Perhaps, here in upstate New York on a dreary May Day, we should be depressed.

I'm not, though.

Granted, spring did not start out the way it usually does. 

Trees started blooming weeks before they should have.    Then, an arctic blast of air came through, dumping up to four inches of snow in rural areas around Binghamton.  At my son's house, it got to -6F.

The early spring became the Dawn of the Dead (blossoms). 

We despaired at seeing the dead magnolia blossoms, the forsythias that never bloomed, the dead cherry blossoms so majestic a day or so before, and, most of all the apple trees (we are in a major apple growing area). Those trees just stood there.  Nothing happened.

But below the surface of those seemingly dead trees, something was happening.

Second spring.

So now, I bring you....Second Spring. A small spring miracle.  Perhaps "miracle" is too strong a word, but, to me, it isn't.

A new day has dawned.

Not too many apple blossoms (perhaps we'll get a sparse crop, if anything), but the trees are blooming.

County courthouse, downtown Binghamton NY, April 27

Spring has returned.  You know those dead magnolia blossoms?  Live blooms are opening, almost a month later, next to the dead ones.

...and they are blooming.

A handful of forsythia blossoms, as the plants leaf out.

Spring has returned.  And you'll forgive me, dear reader if, full of spring, I blog about it for the next few days.

There is nothing like a small spring miracle.