March, a Capricious Changeable Month!

Chunks of mud fall onto the parking lot as ice beneath the truck begins to melt.

"In March winter is holding back and spring is pulling forward.  Something holds and something pulls inside of us, too."
          ---Jean Hersey


Honestly, this has been the most changeable, capricious and unpredictable month!  

A slender branch snags a tiny feather.

It's hard to hold a thought in my head with the pushing and pulling of winter and spring.

We've had more weather changes than even firings in the White House.

The East Coast became BFF with nor'easters every few days.  The West Coast was blasted by a Pineapple Express that dislodged even more precarious mud.  

Mud and March seem so intertwined.  Even though we're so lacking in our snow totals this winter and everything is so dry--we still have mud!

My poor prayer flags often begin quiet mornings still and unmoving.  The other day I looked out and they were vigorously flapping in winds from the west.  A moment later from the east--and then the south.  Our trusty windmill was simply spinning in circles.

Even the pelicans have returned to Northern Colorado!

We left for Wyoming a couple of weeks ago after checking the weather and seeing that "clear and sunny" was the forecast for the next several days.

To our astonishment, we had barely arrived in Laramie before it began to snow--big, heavy wet flakes that amounted to nine inches and closed I-80 and Hwy 287 for two days!

Fog begins to clear as I leave the house for my morning walk.

After breakfast skies clear and blue sky emerges.

By lunchtime snow falls in small pellets.

By sunset, the squall blows to Kansas and skies clear once more.

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold, when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade."
                            --Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Drops freeze on a chill morning.

March Madness is an officially crazy time.  Just ask Virginia.

On March 24, we watched the March for Our Lives, a demonstration created and organized by #NeverAgain, a group of students who survived the Feb. 14 shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

I found myself weeping with the power and eloquence of the student speakers and musicians.  

I sat, heartbroken that shootings of any kind happen in our country and so proud that these students have been able to accomplish so much with courage, resolve and media saavy.

A nest waits ready.

March brought teacher strikes and walkouts for a group of well educated professionals who deserve salaries and support far above the national norm.

When we moved to this community we knew no one.  Even our real estate agent lived 30 miles away.

This month we experienced something that hasn't happened since moving here seven years ago!  

We spent almost two hours in the grocery store because we kept running into friends and neighbors!  

We also attended our first local wedding.  Sure, we had to introduce ourselves to the bride but it meant a lot to her Mom, our friend, that we were there.

Land emerges as I walk nearer in the fog.

The color green is emerging in all it's hues and on March 11 I heard my beloved Western Meadowlark sing once again.  Now the Red Wing Blackbirds are trilling with the approaching nesting season in the marsh behind our house.

I've decided it is the fate of March to be fickle.  It's my excuse to be changeable, too.