Waiting on the Green

Early spring is a really ugly time in upstate New York. Dead (or dormant, but still dead-looking) plants that come in a stunning colorwheel of brown, gray, black, and more brown. A few pathetic dead leaves clinging to the otherwise barren trees. Sodden ground. Mud everywhere. Gray skies, more often than not.

Ugly. And seemingly interminable.

But the snowdrops are finally up, which is the first harbinger of the growing season. Before you know it, the view from our front porch will look like this:

Green, verdant, sunny, NOT BROWN.

That photo was taken on May 10 last year. I think I took it to try to capture a very nice sunset. The sunset didn't come through particularly well, but the not-brown part sure did. We're going to be a little behind this year when it comes to the grass growing and the trees leafing out, so maybe it won't look exactly like that in five weeks, but soon.

These are the images we cling to in upstate New York's early spring.