So it’s officially spring on Sunday, and not a moment too soon. Do I hear a “yay!” or a “finally!” or an “Amen!”? Not only has winter long lost its charm, but let’s face it, we are all sick of being sick. There’s a particularly nasty virus/ flu/ cough/ fever combo in our neck of the woods, which has wiped out so many people I know (including yours truly— ironically, right after I wrote this gem!!), it’s bordering on ridiculous. So I say— out with germ-infested, feverish days of dreary and in with… spring! 🙂
What do you love about spring? The warmer weather, the freshness, the teasing hint of summer, the cleaning out of closets (!), the thought of dining alfresco, the hikes and bikes, fluffy chicks and wooly lambs frolicking in the meadow? Or maybe just the thought of no more snow, fellow Canadians?
I love the pink blossoms and the blue skies and the feeling of fresh air in my lungs (now that I’ve stopped doing a decent impersonation of Wheezy the penguin from Toy Story). But there is one thing I do not love about spring…
The Woodpecker.
Seriously.
Every year like clockwork, he and his posse come to inflict further damage on the siding of our house. Our bedroom, to be precise, the same wall where our headboard is situated. If you have never experienced the rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat of this glorious creature on your bedroom wall, you cannot fully appreciate the magnitude of the issue. The husband hanging from the roof and teetering on ladders filling holes and fixing up mesh wire, the money paid out to fix and repaint, the humiliation of having an artificial “scare-owl” on the roofline, and those oh-so-early morning calls for weeks on end. Forget the alarm clock.
But this year was the best—while on my feverish sickbed last week, sleeping a minimum of 16 hours a day, our friendly woodpecker decided it was spring. Imagine a pneumatic drill boring into your already pain-racked skull. That was my joy. That was my intro to spring. I was so ready to make a woodpecker pie. Here’s the torturer: (It’s the best I could do while dangling from the balcony.)
The good news is, I’m feeling way better now (hang in there to all my fellow-sufferers of the lurgy, this too will pass), so I’m not forced to endure the morning drilling-through-my-head routine anymore. Amazing how we appreciate health and energy so much more after a nasty bout with sickness. And Woody isn’t even bothering me quite so much. He has to make a nest somewhere, and hey, why not cause the usual havoc on our wall? Our insulation is so cozy.
Are you springing into spring this year full of energy with great plans and gusto? Or are you hobbling out from the bleakness of winter and stumbling into the sunshine? I feel like I missed over a week of my life and am on catch-up a bit, so today I finally got my hair cut (it’s been 12 months, which either makes me a massive procrastinator or amazingly low maintenance), took in a little creation (here’s a pic to prove winter is so outta here), and now I’m all set for my to-do list. Maybe I’ll even go and cheer on the woodpeckers.
“See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,” Song of Solomon 2: 11-12a
Take a deep breath, my friend, and roll those sleeves up. It’s a new season, time for a fresh start, and maybe catch a little spring fever. The good kind.
Linking up with some fabulous encouragers! Check them out:
