March is Spring on the wing,
birds returning to nest.
March is cold mornings, warm days,
March wind stirring budding tree limbs
And dancing through rippling grass.
March is capricious,
Teasing us with near-summer days
Only to turn and freeze us with the biggest snow
And winter storm of the winter season.
March is friend and foe, lover and hater,
Tempestuous and unruffled, furious and quiet.
March is the final end to winter
And the harbinger of spring.
—Ethelene Dyer Jones – March 2017
Longtime Blind Pig reader Ethelene Dyer Jones wrote the poem above after being inspired by this post by Don Casada.
Just yesterday I was thinking about the drastic differences the month of March brings each year. Last weekend was a perfect example. On Friday we had temperatures in the upper 60s with sunshine, by the time Saturday’s wedding arrived it was 25 with blowing snow.
Last night’s video: Dorie Woman of the Mountains 8.
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.March is crazy. The wind is terrible. And you don’t know what it’s going to be the next day. Wind, snow, rain, sun. We get it all.
March is a crazy month for sure! It’s never boring. It is so pretty here today though and the fresh air is wonderful.
What a great poet Ethelene was. She had such a way with words. She made you feel them.
Beautiful poem ,,,,apt description for sure…. yet my heart, and bones , joining in harmonic chorus with my eyes long even yearn to see March and green to come..️️
Loved the poem- so very fitting.
Her poem speaks truth. One never knows what type of weather March bring and sometimes that extends to April. Thank you for sharing Ms Jones poem, it’s a good reminder for us that want to hurry up and plant our gardens.
We had a tornado warning last night that passed quickly and was followed by a thunderstorm warning that lasted until around midnight. I have been seeing folks running around in flip-flops and shorts all week. That will change as winter returns starting today. I hope the flip-flops don’t get put in storage, as the 70s are coming back in a few days.
Mid-March is when I plant my vegetable seeds indoors. That means it’s only six weeks until I can plant my garden!
March is kinda like the ‘month of all seasons’ a neither/nor time. It is spring not yet quite sprung, just green hints. It is summer in preview during odd hours. It is fall without fall color or the feel of going to sleep. It is winter in wet cold yet with a wake up feel in it. And through it all runs the wind. March must have been the inspiration for that saying, “Don’t like the weather? Wait fifteen minutes.”
March tends to make me restless. I want to get out and about and stirring. I think it affects the critters the same way. The birds start calling again. The mockingbird stakes out his claim.to our little place and everything in and on it. Mole runs appear everywhere. We start to see the critters that never made it across the road. The frog chorus tunes up.
We went wildflower hunting in the woods Thursday. Too early still. Found one lonely violet. There are more in our yard; purple dead nettle, dandelion, violet, hyacinth, bluets, little vinca, bloodroot. Just waiting for the meadow park announcement, “Spring is here!”
First things first here. I absconded a few forsythia limbs from a neighbor and plunged them into dirt. They’re budding out right now and I hope they live. I told Murray one never says thank you for a plant and to “swipe” a start is lucky. He’s not convinced. It came a sudden wind through here yesterday that I swear I felt fortunate it didn’t rip my roof off literally! The superintendent of the schools here has a white pine tree in his other tree this morning that blew over. He’s fortunate his home is unscathed! I’ve not wanted to talk of leaving here, but winters are long and tough. I’m leaning towards Inverness, Fl or even Acapulco where my daughters have landed now. It’s gorgeous there and not as dangerous as we have been told. I started my seeds yesterday. Spring is awesome!!! I ordered another butterfly Bush, an OLYMPIAN FIG TREE and purple tea roses ( with purple being my signature color.) The folks are COTTAGE FARMS in ALABAMA are wonderful to buy from or ask any questions.
“Winter’s in labor and soon will give birth to the spring, and sprinkle the meadows with flowers for my Angeline”-My friend, the late Mickey Newbury.
What a beautiful poem that perfectly describes March. I’ve long said that you can’t trust March in Tennessee.
March – In like a Lion, out like a lamb. I didn’t understand that saying until I moved to Iowa. Growing up in Southern California, if March has more warm days than average temperature days, it means the summers are going to be a scorcher. Mild March means summers will be very livable. When I moved to Iowa, the clash of spring and winter meant thunderstorms, snow, lots of mud from melting snow, rain, and more mud. The “M” in March began to simply mean “M for Mud” to me. I think March shows more upheaval in transition from winter to spring, than September does between summer and fall.
Donna. : )
Always a great read for the beginning of the day…Thanks
The weather will do what it wants to do, no matter what we want! It was a lovely wedding regardless the temperature!
The weather will do what it wants to do, no matter what we want!