After a long and snowy Winter and a cool, rainy start of Spring, Green has finally returned to the Mountains. We've been blessed with some truly beautiful days—warm, breezy, and filled with sunshine—but the most stunning time of day in Vermont, in my opinion, is twilight, for that is when the Green Mountains are their most vibrant. Everything looks better in a sunset, from the warm lighting of the flowers and trees, to the last sun of the day playing on the water, and the shadows dancing across the mountains. Twilight allows us to see all the many shades of green here in Vermont.
And of course, Spring's advent parallels the return of Vermont's favorite summer residents, the birds. Now that my feeders will hopefully be safe from the clutches of hungry post-hibernation bears, I've laid out the customary banquet: sunflower seeds, thistle seeds, and sugar water. (The morning after this column was written, I woke up to find that my feeders had been ravaged by a bear. I guess I spoke too soon...) With each progressive day, I see more and more birds flocking to my feeders and flying around my yard like so many colorful kites. We have the Goldfinches, who have happily shed their drab Winter feathers for their buttery Summer counterpart; stunning Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks, who pop against the green backdrop; and Cardinals and Chickadees, who never left but whom we are glad to see nevertheless. To my delight, I saw my first hummingbird of the season investigating my newly-blooming coral bells and staring at me defiantly from my seat on the porch. Thankfully, these flying jewels faced no difficulty darting across the US border from their seasonal home in Mexico.
Yes, I know that the Mountains will get greener, and more birds will arrive, and that it is only a short time until my entire garden bursts with blooms, but this time of year is always so lovely. It lacks the newness of the first days of Spring, when little shoots fight to break through the still cold ground, and the tiredness of Summer, when everything fades and grows ragged in the scorching summer sun. It is, in a way, the perfect time of year, and also one of the most fleeting. Before we know it, Summer will be here in all her hot humid glory. But for now, we must enjoy the calm before the storm: the transition from Spring to Summer.
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