
The poem and artwork are attributed to Stephanie Laird
Here in California, it doesn’t look like Spring is tomorrow. It’s another drizzly day among weeks of dreariness.
But, during the one-half day of sun, the orange poppies unfurled to soak up the sunshine, and the daffodils pushed slender stalks through the coarse mulch to show off delicate petals.

A pair of white mourning doves visit the bare silk tree in the garden, bringing four baby grey-speckled fledglings. They know there’s water in the fountain and bird seed in the feeder.
They know they are safe from our two cats, who watch them inside the house atop their multi-tiered kitty condo.
A walk through the backyard garden finds another flower pushing through the damp, a blue spindle. Lupine must’ve blown into the yard from somewhere far away.
The scent of jasmine from a heavy bush bursting with star petals scent the yard and I’m reminded, through thick and thin, storms and dry seasons, that spring is coming.
Despite the forecast, live like it’s Spring.”
Lily Pulitzer