The embraces of the sun

This is my absolute favorite time of year. Not all of the spring. Just this time when spring has really come, the sun is bright and warm, but the earth hasn't quite realized it yet. Only the very earliest flowers are blooming where I live. No dandelions yet. Just lungwort, chickweed, violets, maybe buttercups. 

It is also the time when I was born, so maybe I'm pre-programmed to love the early middle of spring. Rain comes but it is soft and usually short. The sun peeks through holes in the multicolored clouds and mist lies gentle on the land. It is a time when there is a fair amount of work in the garden, but I never mind it at this time the way I might grumble at other times of the year. Now I'm still purely grateful to be outdoors. The air is always sweet and clean, even in industrial Bohemia. 

Early spring is a time of beauty and the anticipation of even greater blossoming. Anticipation is often sweeter than the real thing. Anticipation of spring blooming doesn't entail ticks or stinging nettles for one thing. It's still too cold for them.

I have a quote for today that has been sitting on my mantel and inspiring me for the past few days. The words were said by Sitting Bull to his warriors at some point in the 1800s during his long fight to protect his home and family.

Behold, my friends! The spring has come.
The earth has received the embraces of the sun.
And we shall soon see the results of that love. 
Every seed has awakened and so has all animal life.
It is through this mysterious power
that we too have our being
and we therefore yield to our neighbors,
even our animal neighbors,
the same right as ourselves,
to inhabit this land.

- Sitting Bull