"O Wind, when winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"  Percy Bysshe Shelly

What a nice, quiet morning it is….nary a cloud in the sky, tee-shirt weather…well, almost tee-shirt weather, still wearing the vest, howsumever…prob'ly in the '50s 'n, of course, we were about an hour later than usual t'day…not a soul sitting outside at the Fair Oaks Coffee Shop 'n Deli which almost never happens…

When we got in front of the beauty salon, L'il Willy wuz torn between begging for treats or charging acros't the street to meet 'n greet the large shephard on t'other side…fortunately, for Willy, the shephard wuz onleash 'n, in the end, his hunger for treats (as usual) wuz overpowering…I s'wan (as my Grandma Smith use'ta say) that dog'ud eat anything….

It's the middle of January which means that in about a month, give or take, it'll be Spring here in northern California…well, down here in the flatlands, anyway…up on the mountain, that ain't true…

When I wuz a boy, as I recall, sumwhere around the 1st of May or thereabouts, we (kids) cudn't hardly wait to take off our shoes 'n go barefootin' in the Spring grass…but that wuz long ago 'n far away…northern California has a 'hole 'nother climate going for it…

irregardless (yeah, I know that ain't a real word) of Al Goracle…'course, early Spring generally means long, hot summer but we been pretty lucky in that regard the last couple years…'n again, I'm talking local, the rest of the country has had some terrible weather…what with floods 'n droughts 'n tornadoes 'n such…

All that aside, hope springs eternal 'n I'm looking forward to Spring…

"Spring is God's way of saying, 'One more time'…."