I awake again a few hours later, to hear the birds sing as the sun is up. It’s been a long time since I just could enjoy the early morning songs. As I slip away to a state of half awake and half asleep, (Dream World - I was once told), I think how wonderful a place this must be. Here I am; there at last.

Just as I think life can not get any better than this, up I jump with a cat hanging off my bedroom window screen. How long have they been out there? I look at the clock. It is 10:00 am. Where have I been for this long? I grab my PJ’s and out to the door I go, feeling a bit guilty, expecting the cold air to bring me back to this beautiful day. I can hear the wind. So as I open the door, I button my last button up to my neck. With a gust of wind grabbing the door out of my hand, in run the cats and with them the warm air travels in to my face. It is spring!

I make my coffee, open the entire windows. Wishing my patio furniture is on the deck. I open the back door; I can not wait for my coffee. I walk out on the deck. The first sounds I hear are the sea gulls, as you know them. Since my granddaughter was small, as our little secret, she and I called them “shit hawks”. She thought that was such fun. She could say “shit” and not get in trouble.

My heart is alive with excitement, I grabbed a kitchen chair, my coffee, and the cats and out we go. As usual, Sam has a lot to say and she does not like heights. The deck off the kitchen is about ten feet off the ground. I love it out there because the back yard slopes down, so it is like I am on top of the trees. In the spring that’s where you want to be, up high were the birds are nesting. You can look down on them as they feed off the spring treats they have awaited so long.

As I close my eyes, I can hear the wind swirling through the tree tops, howling, singing, “It’s spring!” I anticipate a cold gust from the wind, but there is none - just the warmth of the sun. As I sit there, I can feel the wind; it is not going too give in so easily. It’s digging down deep to bring out its might, but today the sun has won.

So, open your eyes, spring has begun.