Spring Green

"...the violet was flawed on the lawn." That's Elizabeth Bishop in a poem entitled, A Cold Spring. We are nowhere near the violet stage. It snowed last night and the daffodils are diminished. The trees are late; the maples usually blossom out by April 23. The buds are showing but hold back their color. Maple blossom time is the definitive turning point, for me, into High Spring. One of the great discoveries of my life was to notice as a child that the color "spring green" in the 64 Crayola box is the exact color of the maples when they first open.