Wonderful Spring: time with my wife out of doors and in the warm sun; long walks with my dog; sitting under a tree; blue sky; fresh cut lawn clippings; swimming pools and diving boards; and jogging before sunrise.

peaches. sitting in central park. frisbees.

wonderful is t.s. eliot's notion: burgeoning spring suggests to us a stirring of hope that while inherent and relentlessly unfolding in nature (as much as is death and decay in the relentless turning of the seasons) is only observed by us in very human terms-much like we'd attribute our own emotions to an animal -and really is always in the state of passing ('the world however didn't wait'-brecht: or perhaps like tantalus, spring as a reward that always remains just out of reach as the wheel turns) and is no longer-perhaps never was-inherent in our own nature. all from that one line. that's pretty amazing.

What is April?

Is it Apricots, Porcupines, Railroads, Isosceles triangles and Lentils?

Is it Ants, Parachutes, Robitussin�, Icograda and Lizards?

Is it Antipathy, Pleasure, Radicalism, Ippons and Lavatories?

Is it Artisans, Panic attacks, Romantics, Ideas and Limits?

Is it Adagios, Prudence, Rivers, Idiocy and Lagoons?

April is time for traveling... Just returned from a week in Barcelona. What a beautiful city! A unique mix of the old and new, so many colors, much to discover, so much inspiration.

It's a shame we only have 2 weeks vacation in the U.S. One learns so much through travel.

sundresses, short skirts...need a guy say more?

- smell of the first rain mixed with my neighbor’s wood stove

- digging in the dirt on the weekend and finding ladybugs

- scoping out various summer folk festivals to attend

- planning my first box garden in adobe illustrator

Being able to walk outside, leisurely.

Big, blue sky with lots of clouds.

New friends + old aquaintances who become new friends.

Spring mixes in itunes.

Great print design that is so beautiful you want to eat it.

Liz--

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just relive last weekend over and over? though i think that weinberger might be jealous...

-d

*smile*

my head's still stuck back there, in spite of everyone else around me trying to drag me into the new week!

hope you had a safe flight back! you missed a perfect sunday, but i'm sure you had a perfect sunday anyways :)

xox

Magnolias

Watching my lawn being mowed for the first time this year and anticipating a whole summer of not mowing, of not dying of allergies, of enjoying my family on Saturdays. �10 every 2 weeks can buy a lot of joy.

walking outside with good muzak and a camera

Watching my three-year old son throw the ball southpaw.

well, i have just left the land of pink and green, where trees are blooming, and all that shit, to come to the land of brown and grey. i'm in saskatchewan, home of dirt.

what's the beauty here? my new game is to drive the empty streets as fast as i can while avoiding the potholes! not easy, as they are deep and many, but a gal's gotta find a little joy where she can.

though i think that weinberger might be jealous...

Would've loved to have been there but I wasn't invited

Starting yoga while it's still light out and taking the sun down during practice. That is, of course, if I get out of the office in time to go.

touché!

~sigh~ the first sun-burn of the season is upon me...wonderful words of a season that has yet to be captured by them...i'm guessing t.s. elloit just had some bad allergies...?

WHEOOOO! It's APRIL and NOT SNOWING!

Someone keep their fingers crossed, I like the weather!

I second Jeff Gill with the magnolias now that I live in a place where spring actually arrives in April and not sometime in mid-May (like in Montreal). In Montreal, April is quite cruel: warm and balmy one day, freak snowstorm the next.

Stumbling into the comments late: Is this the cruelest month thread? Whew!

an added list:

-Spring brings new cat barf on the persian carpet

-Sunny days outside while working weekend on a foolish, foolish deadline inside

-Pollen by the bucketful

-Mosquitos that make Lestat look like an amateur

>> Cheer up! Summer's next...

Aside from sunny days at Yankee Stadium (for which I'm extremely grateful), I'm thankful when the tax bill comes in less than what I thought it would be! Off to the Apple Store...

The time for tax refunds (hopefully), the cherry blossoms, and my cats to finally be able to lay in the sun again so their fur is all warm when I pet them.

Oh, and this is when all the good bands start playing outside for free. That's always a plus.

More thoughts to add:

Tax refund!! (yes, thank you, virginia, there is a santa claus)

A cafe with free wireless and sidewalk tables (on the sunny side of the street)

The smell of the grass being cut in the park.

The crack of the bat, the roars of the crowd, as the boys of summer return from the rites of Spring.

Biking to work...

D.C. cherry blossoms at their absolute peak...

and a HOME baseball game in the nation's capital!

In Montreal, April is quite cruel

Matilda, nice to see a fellow montrealer (or at least ex-montrealer) here. Yes, Montreal can be quite cruel but it also makes it all the more amazing when spring does break.

A few weeks ago, when we got to about 5 celcius, people were out basking in the sun, the dogs, babies and pretty girls were out and everyone was smiling. We had a beautiful weekend but the last few days have been a bit frigid... but soon...

I'm happy to be back in a city where you can meet and greet random strangers in the street and talk to them about your zine.

Kevin, it's true that Montreal is great when spring finally decides to appear: people get friendlier, they get out more, and there's a party atmosphere on the island. But I also find that spring lasts for about 4 days in Montreal: it's grey and slushy (aka winter) then it's mild and sunny for the aformentioned 4 days (if it isn't interrupted by a sudden snowstorm) after which the hot, humid summer begins in full tilt. The trees explode with foliage and everything, including people, race to come alive because the season is so short.

I hope you're having a great time in Montreal, though. I miss it, especially this time of year...

Debbie, my dear, are you having a f__king great April?

;)

MK, that's the f__king funniest thing I've seen all day. It really is f__king great!

MK, that's...

I wonder if MK will start going by Margaret....

Oops! Maybe I should have posted this under Baby Names My Wife and I Have Rejected?

kingsley--

yeah it is exactly like that. exactly. yes, exactly. it is also because i live by these f'in rules.

i think we need to watch our potty mouths...

Aloha...you guys will be jealous, but I'm actually on vacation this week, so I'm emailing you from a condo on the beach on the west side of Maui, in Kapalua. Just got here Thursday, and it's taken me until today to really start to unwind and de-stress.

Everything is wonderful here. The air is fragrant, the sky and sunsets are incredible, and life has a slower rhythm all its own. The island is magical.

Yesterday, I saw sea turtles and puffer fishes snorkeling, got buried in the sand by my kids, drank fresh cane and coconut juice at a roadside stand, and watched the sunset on the beach w/ my wife. It is so amazing here.

No watch, no cell phone, no emails. Aaahh.

Wish you could all be here. I'll post photos when I get back.

Tan, I've put stamps on my forehead: I'm going' to Maui! LOL

"I saw sea turtles and puffer fishes snorkeling"

now that's amazing. little tiny snorkels . . .

Eliot might have been influenced in his gloominess by having a wife who was slipping noisily into insanity.

That and his viewpoint that we're none of us Hamlets, more fit to fill a scene, so that the grand notions of spring as the time that all nature throws down whatever else it's doing in order to breathe inspiration into the poet (as in the first 18 lines of 'The Canterbury Tales,' upon which the opening of 'The Wasteland' is ironically based), well, that's a little too grandiose for him.

> now that's amazing. little tiny snorkels . . .

I just find it odd that puffer fishes would need snorkels. I mean, I marvel at the technical achievement of a functioning tiny snorkel, but I think fish wouldn't benefit from such an invention.

Now, how's my spring going?

The latest developments were a nasty cold during a business a trip. I dropped my laptop and now it's in the repair shop. The subway ride home last night was packed, warm and with no place to seat. Getting bumped in the head with the realities of starting to think about buying a home. Trying to find money somewhere to produce a few Speak Up pieces this year. My favorite, weekend-comfort pair of jeans are now officially unwearable due to lengthening holes in unwanted areas.

I love it.

Seriously.

Okay, and it's been fucking beautiful outside.