I love this quote by Margaret Atwood:
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” – Margaret Atwood, Bluebeard’s Egg
This time of year always reminds me of my childhood and the time spent outside in our rubber boots. Playing in the ditches, my sister and I would make little birch bark boats and we would follow them in the stream, we would walk to the pond at the back of the fields as it was always the biggest when waters made the earth swell; we came home muddy and wet. At school, we were excited to get out the marbles and sidewalk chalk to play hopscotch. And every spring, I would go to my friend Tara’s dairy farm to watch the cows being released from the barn for the first time after a cooped up winter; to say they were excited was an understatement. 🙂
With our continued lockdown state in Ontario, getting outside is that much more important. Work in our yards, preparing flower and vegetable gardens. Walking along the edges of streams and rivers; smelling the fresh air of spring. Finding our sacred spots where we can revere in the beauty of spring; a time of renewal and promise.
It is time to say goodbye to winter, thanking it for its coziness and time of rest and welcome spring, a time when the air is freshest and the wind smells like dirt.
Photo credit: https://unsplash.com/@rupert_britton