Wikipedia says the dog days of summer are the days in July and August that are characterized by the warmest summer temperatures. The Old Farmers Almanac thinks the dog days are the days from July 3rd through August 11th - the days with the least rainfall. The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius rose just before or at the same time as sunrise.
The Romans sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to
appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the
hot, sultry weather. There are many definitions of the dog days of summer but they all mean the same to me - the bad days of summer. If that's true then surely there can be bad (or dog) days of Spring and I think we're in them right now.
We all think of spring with such poignant longing. We dream of the fragrant flowers on trees, shrubs, and flower beds, the green grass, and the tender little leaves bursting into full beautiful green trees. Its surely the most gorgeous time of the year. That's the Spring we dream of. And this is the Spring we get.
Everything is the same color and it's not green, it's brown. Or, too often, white. And it's cold outside and we're all tired of it and discouraged and we all remember that a year ago we had a really warm day. But what we seem to forget is that this happens every single year. We go through this stage when our expectations far exceed reality and it's so hard waiting for reality to catch up. Once it does, we get the Spring we know and love. The warm temperatures, the lovely colors, and the sweet fragrances.
In the meantime we have to look for signs of things to come and the good news is that they're out there.
The koi are starting to stick their noses out of the never frozen pond and nibble at the algae collected on the edge.
The boy birds have become very interested in the girl birds.
The daffodils and helleboros are sporting buds.
And the crocuses are abloom.
Even the robins are back which is a sure precursor of Spring. I can't include their picture though because for some reason the robins are blurry this year.
Anyway, it's all proof that Spring is coming. I've been comforting myself for weeks now with this theory that our expectations are just too high.
And now Harry announces that he just read that it's official. Spring is running about six week late this year. sigh
Here you had me all excited and Harry pops in and bursts my bubble! If I do nothing else this spring or summer, we are going to walk together at Streibel Pond. I've been by it a million times since my stepdad had his strokes and heart attack. After all these years, I found a quick back way to the hospital and my mom's house.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, it will get here eventually, it always does! the past couple of days have been so promising! Now if we can just get through the beginning of next week! UGH!
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