~from Ami

As I speak, thunder is rumbling across the Oklahoma sky, a light rainshower misting over the lettuce and spinach seeds I sowed about an hour ago. It's April and I've apparently made it through the winter! Time for my all time favorite holiday, yes, it's time for Daylight Savings!!!

Makes me wonder what branch of my Danish-Norwegian-Icelandic heritage placed such a burden of seasons on me. I can't function in winter, I need light and sun and warmth at all times. Oklahoma winters are mild, yes, but they are also depressingly bleak. If pressed, I'll say my favorite month is July- I love the heat, the Fourth of July, the laziness. But April, I come alive again.

The air is tingling with ozone right now; all the windows are open. The smell of the air after a storm is a color, only I can't decide which color. Is it a greenish-brown? Or a deep blue that you can feel all the way to your veins? It feels like I've been slapped awake after a five-month sleep, whatever color the air is.

The colors of spring are so garish, but my eyes ache for anything: neon yellow of forsythia, lime-green buds on the maple, icy pink of creeping phlox.

A few of my irises popped into bloom overnight, and the peony buds are fat and covered with ants already.

To those of you who garden- welcome to the season!

(woodland violets)