A New Spring

This is not Spring as I am used to it.
In Kansas, the weather is usually already warmer by the time spring arrives. Here in Minnesota, the arrival of spring only means that daily temperatures make it above freezing.

In Kansas, the eagerness of spring comes in the form of waiting to see the daily progress of flower blooms and tree blossoms. In Minnesota, the eagerness of spring involves watching the snow slowly melt away into puddles.

Perhaps the best way for me to show you the differences between spring in Kansas and spring in Minnesota is through my pictures.


Looking down my street in Kansas on March 26th 2012


Looking down my road in Minnesota on March 27th 2013


Teddy relaxing outside in Kansas on March 18th 2012


Amos resting outside in Minnesota on March 23rd 2013


A couple kids outside in Kansas on March 26th 2012


A couple kids outside in Minnesota on March 23rd 2013


Hiking in Kansas on March 22nd 2012 (I love the clouds)


Hiking in Minnesota on March 23rd 2013 (Notice how deep the snow is against the
fence)


A garden stream in Kansas on March 25th 2012


A stream in Minnesota on March 16th 2013


Lake Shawnee in Kansas on March 25th 2012


Lake Bemidji in Minnesota on March 30th 2013

Overall I honestly can’t say which version of spring I like more. Spring in Minnesota is colder, less colorful, and not what I am used to. But I like the more significant feeling of waking up from a real winter. And I like how in Minnesota I can look forward to spring and summer without dreading the extremely hot summer which always follows the short Kansas springtime.
No matter where you live, Spring is definitely here. That just means different things depending upon where you live.

Frostfall

Sometimes it snows in Minnesota even when there are no clouds. And though I have experienced similar splendor before, this morning's display while doing chores was the most magical yet. My camera could not capture the scenes image; but hopefully your imaginations will be able to with the aid of my descriptions.

I did this morning what I always do during chores. I stopped to admire the scenery while the cows ate their breakfast. This morning’s display of the “cloudless snow” was so strong, that at first I thought they were just apparitions in my still-groggy eyes. I noticed what looked like miniature snowflakes lit by the sun’s rays as they peaked through the trees, and over the neighbor’s house. Then I looked all around me. I was surrounded by sparkling embers of crystal, whose widths were no wider than the strands from a spider’s web. The first light from the sun illuminated the winter air, turning them into what people of ancient times might have described as fairies dancing downward to earth. And though they were most apparent in the light, they were visible everywhere to a focused eye. They seemed
to make less than no sound at all as they fell.

What I saw really is not snow at all. At first I thought I was seeing frost drifting down from the tops of the trees.But the breeze was barely blowing. My best hypothesis about what I saw, is that they are water particles in the air. And because the air up here is so clear and cold, the water in the air freezes and falls without being troubled by first becoming a cloud. This must be a Minnesota winter’s version of the hazy humidity I have sometimes seen during the summers in Kansas. Surely there must be a technical name for what I saw; but I do not know it. So I will call it Frostfall.