It's March and March can sometimes be a volatile month. As we approach the spring season, weather forecasters tell us it's also the beginning of storm season and already we've heard a few predictions for tornadoes. If I remember correctly, March is the month about which they say, "In like a lion, out like a lamb." The last night of February brought a thunderstorm and even some hail and I suspect the turbulence continued into the early hours of March 1, so we should be able to look forward to some mild weather at month's end.
Georgia writer Celestine Sibley, in her book "A Place Called Sweet Apple," told of a neighbor who said she was "fretted" by March. "Of all the months, she said, it's the most exasperating -- neither winter nor spring but a shifty, weaving, capricious changeling that offers you jonquils on one hand and plunges an icy dagger between your shoulders with the other." In fact, that neighbor confided to the author that she didn't even plan to look out her window until March matured and started behaving with more predictability.
Sibley, on the other hand, wrote that she was "crazy about giddy old March" and she wouldn't change it. "There's that sub-freezing temperature and toothy, knife-toting wind on the one hand and brilliant blue skies and goldenrod-colored sun on the other." I tend to agree with her. March weather may be pretty inconsistent but, on the whole, it's not a bad month. The chilly days with biting winds only make us appreciate the warm, sunny ones more.
Around our neighborhood, signs of spring are increasing all the time. Bradford pear trees and tulip trees in nearby yards are putting on quite a show. We have daffodils and pink hyacinths blooming out beside the cellar and peonies coming up in the back yard. The flowering almond is in bloom, and the clematis on the arch beside the fish pond and the trellis in front of Jim's lawnmower shed are beginning to green up. The yard is dotted with an abundance of henbit and a few dandelions. Jim hasn't mowed our yard yet, but it's definitely going to need it soon. He has already done the first mowing for his lawn mowing customer in Patriot Park. Our neighbor across the street is gearing up for the season, too, as we spied a Lowes truck delivering him a shiny new mower last week.
It's almost time for Daylight Saving Time to begin, so don't forget to move your clocks forward an hour this Saturday night. There seems to be a lot of support for leaving the time the same all year round but, for now, we're stuck with this biannual adjustment. I remember Uncle Mann, living out on the farm west of Gravette, wasn't too fond of the time change. He said his old cows didn't know the difference. They just always came up to the barn at the same time anyway. Seems to me that might be just another example where the creatures are smarter than we are.
With the earth renewing itself in spring, we sometimes get the urge to make ourselves over too. Maybe it's a new look, a new wardrobe or an added exercise routine but, whatever our plans, spring seems the right time to make a change for the better. My dental appointment the last week of February and haircuts for both Jim and me last week made us feel better about ourselves. A little shopping trip a few days before netted two pairs of dress shoes, two new belts and a tie for Jim, a pair of shoes and a jacket for me, so we're working on that new look too.
The last weekend of February brought a couple of pleasant evenings out. I joined a friend on Friday evening and we watched the old movie "Sunset Boulevard" with William Holden and Gloria Swanson. Then, on Saturday evening, he accompanied me to Sulphur Springs where we enjoyed eating our fill of beans, cornbread and potato soup at the fundraiser for the Sulphur Springs library. We're planning another movie evening in a week or so and we hope to see another oldie, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro."
It's less than two weeks until the first day of spring, and an Old Farmer's Almanac calendar I saved from a few years ago advises it's best to plant potatoes before that date. That fits in with the schedule followed by Grandma White's brother, my great-uncle Fred. He always tried to plant lettuce on Valentine's Day, even if the ground was covered with snow, and potatoes on Saint Patrick's Day. He loved his tomatoes too and usually put out a few as early as he thought they'd be safe from frost. Yes, it's almost garden planting time, and other exciting things are coming up in April with the Chamber's "Smoke on the Border" barbecue competition kicking off the first weekend of the month, and the museum's "My Collections" exhibit planned for Earth Day, April 22. Keep reading your newspaper to learn about upcoming events and try not to miss any of the good times in our town.
Susan Holland is a long-time Benton County resident and a reporter for the Westside Eagle Observer. She can be reached by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 03/08/2017