Ah, spring.

Today’s snow flurries bring back a memory from a few years back.

Ah, the paradox that is April. The remnants of last week’s blizzard have left a three-foot high snowbank in my front yard, although the shallower depths have melted away. Still, to sit outside at 6:00 in the evening, gazing upon the snow, in sunshine warm enough to permit shirtsleeves, even in the face of a cool breeze, is indeed paradox.

With the westering sun warming my face, I close my eyes to listen to the early evening concert. In the soprano section are the finches with their delicate trill, the cardinal with his wheet-tew-tew- tew- tew and the robin’s cheer-up. On slightly lower notes come the sparrows’ chip-chip-chip and the juncos whistle. Playing alto are the mourning doves’ coo-coo-caroo and tenor is sounded by the call and response of the Canada geese. Binding the birdsong together, the pentatonic scale of the wind chimes, set into motion by the light breeze.

Mike brings Frankie out to join me and the serenity is broken by a hyper-active border collie/husky mix. He’s up in my face, sniffing my hair, and generally just trying to sit on my lap. He’s too big for a lap dog. But then he’s off, sniffing the droppings from the neighbor’s dogs that litter the thawed portion of my front yard. That keeps him busy for a minute or two until he catches another scent. Rabbits! Rabbits have been nesting under my hollow, concrete front stoop for at least as long as the 30 years I’ve lived here. And now Frankie is on their scent…and he wants them. First he tries the left side of the stoop, then the right, then back to the left, but the concrete proves unyielding, so he starts to dig. Soon his white paws are as black as the rest of his coat, and Mike has to pull him away.

A walk down the block in the snow along the parkway cleans his paws, but as soon as he nears my walk, he’s tugging to get back at the rabbits. I don’t know what he would do if he caught one; he doesn’t seem like the hunter type. But he was a stray for some time before Mike rescued him, so who knows? Wild rabbit may have indeed been on his menu.

The sun is moving further westward and as it does its strength is no longer enough to offset the quickening breeze. Time to go in…but with the promise that Spring really is right around the corner.