It happened while we slept. I’m surprised I didn’t hear a thing because it was taking place all around us. The leaves crept out of tiny branches and have now created a yellow-green haze throughout the woods. Naked objects in yards and behind sheds whose looks improve with a shawl of leaves are now returning to modesty. It is an amazing event that we know is coming and that happens every year yet it is always a surprise.

 

Do you have a favorite shade of green? Are you drawn to the spark a kelly green can bring or are you a gentle sea foam person. The bite of chartreuse can be awakening and the sight of celadon makes you feel calm. I have read there are physical effects in the presence of green. You pituitary gland is stimulated and your muscles relax, so bring on the emerald and lime. Green can be stress relieving yet invigorating and we can see that in sage or pistachio greens.

 

A steady week of warm temperatures and longer days has coaxed these leaves out of hiding. Their patient wait is over and they proudly unfurl in a slow but steady way. It is if they know our eyes need time to adjust to the greenness. So welcome back green, we missed you.

I’d like to share a poem by a favorite poet Billy Collins

Today

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,

so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw

open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,

indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths

and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight

that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight

on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants

from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,

holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,

well, today is just that kind of day.