Well, spring is officially here. But, Mother Nature often ignores the official designations of the seasons, and goes on doing her own things, especially in Arkansas. Aside from being the “Natural State,” or as we used to call ourselves, “The Land of Opportunity,” we are still the “Just Wait ’til Tomorrow” weather state. Now that spring has sprung, I hear it is supposed to snow tomorrow. Not only is it supposed to snow tomorrow, it is supposed to come a big snow and freezing rain tomorrow.
Maybe it won’t be too bad if we have snow tomorrow. Actually, I like snow. We’ve been short on snow this year. It should be good for the pastures and hay crops if we catch up a bit on the snows that didn’t fall during the winter months. I’m planning on letting the snow be part of hoping for a good growing season. It is always worrisome if the warm weather starts showing up too early, and provokes the flowers and trees to bloom and bud prematurely. A few years ago, that happened to us in March. The year before had been a bountiful year for my dad’s apple trees.
He had so many apples he couldn’t give them all away. Then during March the next year, the weather warmed, the apple trees blossomed; and then at mid-month cold weather hit with a dose of the 20s.
Dad’s trees produced not one apple that year. All the trees were set back as even the early leaf buds were hard hit.
I am also ready to take snow over hail any day. I remember a few years ago, nearly all of us with houses in Pea Ridge had to have new roofs because we were battered by hail. Vehicles parked outside also took a battering from golf-ball-sized hail and baseball-sized-hail. There was a period in which I dreaded seeing the skies clouding up, because it seemed that with every rain came a hailstorm. So, bring on the snow. But please leave off that freezing rain stuff.
Has anyone taken note of how beautiful June Easley’s hill is these days? The jonquils are out in full bloom.
When I was growing up we used to call them Easter flowers. Even Easter itself is early this year. Maybe the wintery weather will be over and done by Eastertime. I hope the flowers will still be hanging in there when we are celebrating Easter.
Even though I have sometimes said that my favorite time of year is the fall, and that I like some of the things about the winter season, too, we just couldn’t do without spring. I am ready for spring. The winter’s dreariness seems to have an effect on our moods, even more than the dreary appearance of cloudy days. I’ve become convinced that we need the sunlight to shine on us and around us, and that it does something beneficial to us just by shining on us. In parts of the world which have long seasons of winter dreariness, such as Alaska, people have to take measures to shake off the depression that seems to settle on them because of the constant darkness and dreariness. The Eskimo people are known to gather frequently to dance, and to drive away the winter doldrums to the beat of the drums. Some people have found that some light fixtures are beneficial for producing the kind of light that is beneficial to our health. But, nothing beats that good natural sunlight for perking us up. It is good that the sunlight goes along with working the gardens and flower beds.
Of course, there can be too much of a good thing.
My mother used to talk about how fashion changed during her lifetime, as it concerns sunning, or sun bathing; and then how the fashion began swinging back somewhat. She said that when she was a small girl it was still the fashion for women to avoid the sun, and to avoid tanning, because it was fashionable to be fair-skinned. So, long dresses, full-length sleeves, and sun bonnets kept the maiden fair. To be tanned was considered uncouth and common. Then the tanning fashion swept in, and the tanned look became all the rage. Tanning salons caught on. Nobody wanted to be untanned, because it made them look “peaked.” Peaked is an old word that means looking kinda pale and sickly.
Then, a few years ago, we began hearing that too much direct sunlight and too much tanning is bad for the skin, very aging to the complexion, and very dangerous because of the risk of skin cancer. So, let’s not get into sun worship.
Unmuted sunlight can be mean. But, let’s get out and get some sunlight.
For the farmers and gardeners among us, spring is the season to make things happen. Spring is when we start anew. Now is the timeto put last year’s trials and tribulations behind us, and look forward to the opportunities ahead of us. Now is the time to get caught up in the fascination of seeing plant life grow, and to try to make the best of the season’s opportunities while we can. Now is the time to be optimists, and to envision great possibilities. My tomatoes this year are going to be the best they’ve been in years.
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Editor’s note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.
Community, Pages 5 on 03/27/2013