Coyote's Canyon Journal

"Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth." -- Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road

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Location: Canyon State of Mind, United States

I enjoy writing. I don't actually make a living with my English degree, so I keep a blog for fun. The blog is first draft, and as a former editor I apologize for any weird errors that may be present. I do not apologize for writing about things that matter to me. Thanks for reading.

Monday, May 26, 2008

The Scent of Spring.

I've missed Spring.

Since 1997, I've spent Spring in the desert, where cactus blooms are usually in February or March, and not necessarily fragrant or prolific. Last year I spent Spring in New Orleans. Since it's green down there year-round, the Magnolia trees were really the only things that I noticed blooming. And they were so lovely. But Spring here...my god.

Now that I am once again living in a deciduous climate, I am so enjoying the lushness of it all...the overwhelming smells of the flowers and flowering bushes, and of cut grass. Spring in Kentucky is a full-nasal assault, from allergies to flowers. There could be no doubt that the seasons have changed.

Spring was SO long in coming this year. Winter lingered until mid-May. It was dreadful, gray, cool, and rainy; the lack of sun brought me an unexpected bout of the blues until last week sometime.

Spring. Finally.

There are several rose bushes in front of my new office building, and when I go in and out I stop and smell them. On bike rides I will fondle and sniff peonies, roses, daisies, and tall uncut bluegrass if I am at a stopping point. The plants are very sensual in the literal sense of the word.

The desert has its own little surprises; I miss its simplicity and cleanliness. Here, I'm overcome by the beauty and the scents of all the different flowers and by the very large hardwood trees, which finally got leaves about two weeks ago.

We've been walking in the woods over the last two days as a little break at the end of the day. The variety of song birds singing, caught up in the thrall of the season, lift my spirits, too. I even heard an owl hooting yesterday on the walk. Of course the bugs have made a good effort, too. Ticks are an unpleasant issue that we never had to deal with in Utah, and that is a drag. I will have to dig my bug spray out of storage.

It was a good holiday weekend. Now, if I could just bottle up all this fondness for the moment and carry it with me into the rest of the week...

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