This foolish business of Spring

'Tis a misty moisty morning this first day of April.  O to be a fool, while spring is in the world!  (thanks, e.e.)  Dragonwood is green, looking much as it would in early May.  The early wildflowers, which usually emerge this time of year, have already bloomed and gone.  Now the trilliums open, and May apples are not far behind.  There are still fair patches of white in the woods, but those spots dwindle as new leaf growth races toward the sun.  A troop of six deer frequents our forest, going so far as to cross the driveway when the children and I were headed towards the road one morning.  We counted them as some people do the cars of a train.  Our bees have been busy already this year, making the most of the early nectar flow.  We put supers on the hives in mid-March, hoping to share in the bounty.  This very moment, outside the kitchen window, two large squirrels battle for territory.  It's so amazing to see them leap onto fragile branches.  Ah, one has lost.  It was chased too far onto a bending branch, where it could not escape.  The aggressor then backed off and climbed its chosen tree in triumph.  The winner poses, head up, but headfirst towards the ground, where I can admire his sleek body and bushy tail.  As he leaves to go about his buisiness, a robin with nest material in its beak pauses a moment to rest in the squirrel's tree.  Life bursts forth all around us.