they call it hip hop

the sky today was bleached a pale blue, clear from one horizon to the next save for a few jet trails and the shadows of the crows who have returned here to look for any kind of treasure left behind by the slowly melting snow.

while the wind is still cold, and the bay covered with semi-solid pack ice, there's a hint of spring in the air that's entirely unmistakable. i can see it on the kids walking home from high school: their fashion choices are even more daring when the sun is shining and the wind is still. the birds have finally found my juice bottle feeder and the seeds are slowly being consumed. the roads are awash in rivers and piles of sand and salt that colour the pavement, bleaching it and staining it in turn until it looks like some kind of camouflage netting tossed over the ground.

mostly, though, i can feel spring in my bones- like september, i have the sudden urge to start a million and one projects; to clean out the cupboards and start new; to pull out the paint and freshen everything up. i've started reading less intense novels, and i made a true summer dinner last night.

this undercurrent of spring is making it impossible to concentrate.

i expect that tomorrow i'll wake up to a fresh dusting of snow and a harsh west wind. but there's no denying it: old man winter is finished for the year on this good earth.