Oh how I love Spring!!!
However, it sneaks up on me like a cat stalking a mouse. I wait and wait for it to get here and then all of a sudden it has come and gone! Of course, I’m never TOTALLY oblivious. The trees do come to life with the most gorgeous pastel blooms… all shades of pink and white and lavender. And I delight in cherry blossoms and tulips pushing their dainty heads above ground. Then there are grape hyacinths and phlox and sand cherry florets. Those can hardly be ignored.
I also adore the lily of the valley. Even if it throws me into conniptions of sneezing. Man, that tiny sprig has an almighty powerfulness about it! One little stalk in a vase on your work desk will let you know all day who’s taking over the room! Much as I love it, I would have to take the clipping to the far side of my work area so it didn’t drive my nose bonkers!
But the highlight of the spring season – beyond flowers – is the Morel Mushroom! My dad called them “sponges” and would take us out to the woods to hunt for them. Sadly, I could rarely find them. I knew what they looked like, but they hid – incognito- in their shrouded little place among the base of trees and fallen logs.
Now here’s the thing… I think you either have a talent for finding the morels or you don’t. I once had a neighbor lady who was so good at hunting them that here’s what she did… she would actually have her husband drive her around on rural county roads while she hung her head out the window in search of morels. Every once in a while she would yell “stop!” and he did…
She was a little mite of a thing while he was a big ole brute. So he would stay in the car while she raced out and disappeared into the woods. Soon she would be back with a load of morels that would shame a priest into confession. In fact, she always got so many, that as long as I was her neighbor, she gave me a mess of them, too! Glory be, they were wonderful!
But that was many years ago and I haven’t had a taste of a morel in more than a decade. Some years ago I did come across them in a locally owned grocery. I saw them and stopped dead in my tracks. Morels? For sale in the grocery? Really?
Yep – and only $12.99 a pound.
Huh???
Well, I had to have some, so I put a few in a plastic produce bag and held my breath at the checkout.
Funny enough, they weigh almost nothing, so a dozen or so was less than a couple bucks. Sure wish I could find those again – I’d buy a whole big bunch!!!
Anyway, it is almost SPRING. And all the delights that come with it are on the way. And whether or not I have any lilies-of-the-valley… OR… morel mushrooms… I’ll be doing my annual once-a-year happy dance. I dearly love SPRING for so many reasons. And I do get to wondering these days how many more springs I have left.. which truly makes each one all the more precious to me! And here’s my sketch for today in honor of spring being almost here…
So if you are an Ohio-an like me… run outside when the temps get above freezing. Watch for the bulbs to start blooming. Enjoy the creek waters rising higher and the mushrooms poking their spongy heads above ground.
And if you know anyone who hunts morels and has a sweet spot or honey hole where they find more than they can use – tell them I need a stash of those delightful morsels to remind me how fun life can be when the earth comes back to life after the winter freeze.
Viva le Spring!
myverysketchylife 