On Spring Fever in Texas

When winter visits us here in Austin, Texas, it is accompanied by cheerful blue skies and crisp, mild mornings. While much of the country is buried under heaps of snow, our grandiose live oaks and scrubby ash junipers hang on to their green all winter long. Sure, the temperature dips below freezing a couple of times each year, and there are usually one or two mornings each January when we get to eagerly pull out our heavy winter coats and mittens. Once in a long while, we might even welcome a few flakes of snow, though they almost never stick.

 Even though spring is not a long anticipated antidote to winter as it is elsewhere, it is no less thrilling! Suddently, the muted green landscape becomes a backdrop to vivid shoots and tendris and buds and blossoms. The earth awakens; the syurpy grape-Koolaid smell of the mountain laurels hangs languidly in the air. Everyone rushes outdoors, reclaiming patios and porches. Spring in Austin is an event in and of itself. We are not thawing out from a harsh winter. We are not anticipating summer – summer can take its sweet time, thank you very much. We are living in the moment, intoxicated by springtime passion. The arrival of spring makes my heart beat quicken; I am smitten, consumed with spring fever.