It has been a wonderful week as the weather is warming up in the Chicago area.  It seems like hibernation has lasted a bit longer than unusual this year.  Once the thermometer hits fifty degrees, the shorts and sandals come out.  There is a ray of hope around the corner that winter is finally over.  The birds are back and singing in the morning, we can open the windows to grab every ounce of fresh air possible and sweet sunshine warms the skin.

As I looked out the front window this morning, I watched a male and female mallard building their nest in the tall grasses near my mailbox.  They nuzzled each other and played in the yard as the male was making his amorous moves.  After all, it’s what birds do in the spring.

I look forward to winter routines of warm tea or hot chocolate cuddled up by the fireplace with a warm blanket, good book, and my husband snuggled up next to me.  However, after five long months of hibernation, I’m ready to take walks with my husband and go for bike rides.  It is something we could not do last year due to a torn tendon in my foot. Maybe this is the reason I am overly excited with the arrival of Spring this year.

A bike path near our home has a Dairy Queen that appears over a hill after a ten-mile ride.  Ice cream is a reward for enduring the first stretch of pain and we have the benefit of working it off on the return ride. Occasionally, we take a small basket with a few things to nibble on and enjoy a picnic.  I like the idea of a little nuzzling and playing like the mallards.  If people point and stare, I might say, “try this after thirty-two years of marriage, it’s fun!”

Happy Spring!