The Spring, the Water and the Muse

Today is not the first sunny day of 2010 in otherwise pretty plain-looking Western New York.  In fact, we've already hit 80 degrees this season, though a bit early.  The ice has been completely gone from Lake Erie and the dreaded ice boom is out of the lake too.  We haven't had a totally snow-free March for decades: no kidding.  I tip my hat to El Nino.

Somehow I just got to thinking about how much I'm enjoying Spring.  Yeah, I love the crocus, hyacinths and tulips; not having to wear three layers of clothing just to take the garbage out; putting one or two of the bunnies in the Bunny Buggy and going for a stroll; all that good stuff.  Not so much, the neighbors' stereo thumping with their windows all open.  To be fair, I can hear their stereo even when their windows are closed *shrug*

In Spring, it's less like living in the back of a cave and more like taking a deep breath of bloom-heavy air, heaving a sigh, and standing right out there in the middle of Life.  It eases me into the faster pace and potential sunburns of Summer.

Who am I kidding?  I spend way too much time at the keyboard to get sunburned ;-) I do plant some flowerpots and when I've got research to read, I do it on the porch, maybe with a pet or two.  That geis I mentioned two or three posts ago won't let me stray too far.

For somebody terrified of swimming, I do also like to bop downtown to the marina.  Like John Fogery said, I sit by the lake and watch the world go by.  I have a lot of water in my soul.  Eight years in North Dakota was suffocating in a way.  When I moved back to NYS, on the first warm day I ran down to the lakeshore.  The sun did its diamond dance on the waves, the sky gleamed cerulean, the waves slid up and down on the golden sand, splish-swish-splish.  I stuck my hand in the water.  Yow, it was seriously cold!  But it caressed me, awaking my Muse fully.  She lives Somewhere Up There right on a beach where it never gets cold.

I guess I need that water to break mental dams.  There is only one thing that gives me as intense a rush as being at the water: writing a few paragraphs in a blaze of inspiration.

But about you?  What do you think about when the sun smiles on you? Writing aside, if one can ever truly put writing to the side.  Take the poll on the right and let me know.  If you'd care to elaborate on your answer, do post a comment. :)