Frequency becomes a new marker of change as March begins.
The first stage in the progress of spring is the sighting of “firsts”: first bluebird, first robin, and so forth.
After that, quantity counts as much as much as novelty. The number of robins, the number of bluebirds, the number of blooming bulbs, the number of pussy willow catkins emerging take on more and more importance until the next stage of the year arrives, the stage at which all the old first creatures and events are commonplace and give way to new firsts and new quantities.
And there are so many more pieces of spring to count. There is only one week left before the beginning of the pre-dawn robin chorus. Two weeks remain to daffodil season and before silver maple blooming season and the first golden goldfinches.
Only three weeks until tulip season and the first wave of blooming woodland wildflowers and the first butterflies. Four weeks until bright forsythia blooms Five weeks until American toads sing their shrill warbling mating songs in the dark.
Six weeks until the Great Dandelion and Violet Bloom . Seven weeks until all the fruit trees flower. Eight weeks to the first rhubarb pie. Nine weeks to the first cricket song of late spring. Ten weeks to the great warbler migration through the Lower Midwest
This is Bill Felker with Poor Will’s Almanack. I’ll be back again next week with notes for the fourth week of Early Spring. In the meantime, whether you count these things or not, relax and let them run all over you.
