Some say that California has no true seasons. As a native Californian I’d dispute that, though I’ll concede that our seasons are less extreme than you’ll find on the East Coast or in the Midwest.  But even here, the transition between winter and spring is noticeable. The skies are more consistently blue, the air has a milder, softer quality, and lawns are starting to show colors beyond green and brown.

While I love many things about summer, I think spring might be my favorite season: the colors, the sunshine–gentler and less glaring than summer, the gayer, lighter clothes on the racks, the more varied fresh fruits and vegetables in the farmers’ markets. And something more . . . the general sense of movement, awakening, and new life that seems to come only with spring.

Fall and winter are seasons for drawing inward, for quiet reflection, for the comfort of familiar things and people. Spring coaxes you to open up again, to look around you with a fresh perspective, to sample new experiences and try different things. To unfurl yourself, in e.e.cummings’ words,  “as Spring opens ( touching skillfully,mysteriously)her first rose.”

My sister recently informed me that celebrating spring is a worldwide practice. But whether the celebration’s called Beltane, May Day, Pascha, or Easter, rebirth and renewal are always cause for rejoicing.

What are your favorite things about spring?