Spring on the Way

(Woodcarving by Everett Eckstein)
The Cardinals are whistling. The robins are back, singing their hearts out. The sandhill cranes and the Canada geese have returned. All looking for spring. The snow is melting, leaving behind dirty snow piles here and there that struggle to remain but slowly give way to a trickle of melt water that oozes away from them.

The maple sap is running. I watch a squirrel, in the maple tree in our yard treating itself to the sweet sap. The days are longer, the sky seems bluer, and the breeze has less of a cut to it. The other day as the afternoon temperature hung in the 40s, a school age youngster walked along—wearing a T-shirt. No parka. No cap. Rushing things a bit I might say. But we northerners are like that.

I remember one time when we were visiting the U.S’s southernmost city, Key West, FL in February and the temperature had dipped into the low fifties. The natives were wearing down jackets, shivering and complaining. I wondered what they would do with 20-below zero.

Those of us who have lived our lives in the North, where the snow piles high and the temperatures dip low, appreciate spring. Maybe it’s because we know we have once more survived winter. But maybe there is more to it. Maybe we, although we likely would never admit it, like winter and all of its misery and unhappiness, because we know spring is coming with new growth and new hope. And we like the changing seasons. I know I do.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Spring, the season of rebirth, the season of hope.

ONLINE Book Club: April one is the start date for my next” Jerry apps: Stories from the Land internet book club.” The book we will be discussing is BLUE SHADOWS FARM, another novel in my Ames County series. Go to www.jwappsauthor.com for a description of the book, an audio excerpt, how to order the book as well as some discussion questions.

ANNOUNCEMENT: In April—my newest book available: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work. Wisconsin Historical Society Press. (A History of the CCC in Wisconsin.)

UPCOMING EVENTS:
March 25, 6:00 p.m. Johnson Public Library, Darlington, WI, 131 East Catherine St., Darlington, WI. Never Curse the Rain.

April 7, 1:00 p.m. Woodson History Center, Marathon County Historical Society, 10 McIndoe St, Wausau, WI. Launch of Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin.
PURCHASING BOOKS AND DVDs:

Order your signed Apps books and DVDs from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

Books for Thinking About Spring

Living a Country Year (Check writings about spring)

Garden Wisdom (Time to begin planning for the upcoming garden season)

Old Farm Country Cookbook (Try some of spring recipes)

Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)

The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work. (Preorder, www.jerryapps.com)