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Daffodils are in bloom and wild leeks aplenty pushing up underfoot in the woods. Sandhill cranes are back from winters in the sunny South, announcing their presence vocally in Leelanau (so far overhead that I haven’t had a glimpse of them yet, but they’re definitely here). Only last week we had another big snow, and it could always snow again; however, the air feels as if the season has turned the corner at last, not teasingly but sincerely. We shall see. I’m enjoying the increasing hours of sunlight, anyway.
Sunny Juliet and I have not yet resumed our agility work, except on an ad hoc basis in the woods, where a large fallen tree is an opportunity for her to “Walk it!” and “Table!” the signal for her to jump up on a stump. She is very happy, though, to have a new neighbor playmate and to tear around with Griffin while humans stand by and supervise. “A tired dog is a happy dog,” we tell each other contentedly. Then, “Watch out! Not right under our feet!”
[No new photos because their play date last night was cancelled.]
School is back in session in Northport following spring break, families back from their self-prescribed “cabin fever” vacations, and summer people returning to open houses and cottages for the nonwinter months. The annual migration holds once again, for cranes and humans alike.
One question bedeviling me occurred to a couple of friends, also, I learned when I mentioned it. We are struck by the number of fallen trees in the woods. It almost seems that there are as many big old trees lying on the ground, horizontal or nearly so, as there are upright specimens. Is this a misperception, or can it be true? And, if true, did the northern Michigan woods always have this appearance in the spring (and we are only now noticing), or has there been a recent massive die-off? Are all the fallen individuals perhaps ash trees and beeches, victims of recent pest invasions? Bottom line: Has the woods looked as it does now ever since county residents abandoned woodstoves for furnaces – or not?
Is there a forester out there with an answer to this question?
Three different people sent me the link to a story in The Washington Post (if you are not a subscriber, maybe a friend who is will gift you the article) about bookshops specializing in books that have been around the block before, and I appreciated most of the advice given in the article: Take your time; have a spirit of adventure; don’t crow to the owner when you find a book marked at a fraction of its value (just buy it and be happy, I say); look at the books and not at your handheld device. I loved the remark about small shops tending to be “zealously curated,” and I wanted to cheer at “Try never to leave a bookstore without making a purchase, if only a used paperback. It is the least you can do to support these defenders and bastions of civilization.” (Is that what I am? Not such small potatoes, then!) I was not as thrilled by “Bring a flashlight and expect to get dirty.” You wouldn’t want to eat off the floor of my shop, but then, it isn’t a restaurant, is it?
In Northport, in addition to reorganizing subject areas in the bookstore recently to make room for new arrivals, I’ve also been planning for the future. Here are a few important days coming up on my calendar, which I urge you to put on your calendar, too:
Monday, April 22. Earth Day
Saturday, April 27. Indie Bookstore Day
Saturday, June 22. Visit to Dog Ears Books by author Bonnie Jo Campbell
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| As we were in 2011 -- |
7 comments:
Great post, Pamela. I too hope spring is truly here. No more regressions! Hope you have a great bookstore season.
I guess, as they used to sing a thousand years back, "Sumer is icumen in". Our daffodils are decaying, tulips showing off, lilac halfway there and the doggone lawn has had to be mowed three times already. My April celebration will be the 21st, when to paraphrase Lincoln, I will be four score and three.
I truly enjoy the faithful playful dog tales - being stuck with a one-eyed
cat by the name of Mikey. I've been a bit slow on the blogs, having been banned from a couple of Trumpian sites for being rational. Our harbinger
feathered friends out this way are red-wing blackbirds that show up at the feeder before the swamplands bloom. I don't know if our little feeder house could serve sandhill cranes!
Karen, thanks. I'm looking forward to a good season.
Bob, I've missed you! What a. nice surprise to find a comment from you today! Your spring is WAY ahead of ours, though we do have redwing blackbirds. As for rationality, don't you know that will get you nowhere?
Hello commentors! Bob: I sang that Sumer is icumen in at Michigan State U almost 52 years ago, and I loved that little ditty! I just looked up the words, and they posted the 6-part song in sheet music. What fun to see this written out! And thank you for remembering this song, so very appropriate for spring. HeeHee, you can hum the damnable ditty on the fourth time ‚round, cutting your lawn!
Sumer is icumen in, loude sing Cucu!
OH! I want a bunch of your bags! Planet vs. Plastic is timely, so NECESSARY for people to pay attention to! Let‘s talk about how to get the bags here in Uppah State Noo Yawk! 💕
Well, okay, here's a silly story about a song. I went to a bakery this morning, and the woman behind the counter was singing, "I'm looking over a four-leaf clover," and I joined in, and we sang the whole song. She (or one of the other workers) said, "We're a full service bakery -- donuts and a floor show!" Then she said to me as I was leaving, "You bring the song next time." It was a fun way to start a cold but sunny spring day.
Jeanie, I repled to your first before the second came in. I'll be glad to ship bags, but don't you have a local bookstore where you are???
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