Spring Accelerated

Warm weather has come to New York and it is so warm so suddenly that all of the signs of spring are appearing abruptly out of nowhere. This also means that spring will be passing us by in such a rush that we'll be into summer before we have gotten even a brief opportunity to savor the new warmth. Doesn't seem right, does it? But that is often the way people experience spring around here. The excitement of seeing the leaves bloom on the trees and the flowers emerge from the ground fades so quickly that it is like one of those speeded-up, time lapse films in which all the new growth appears over night and then is gone again the very next day. Some of the flowering trees are already dropping their petals and a few of the early daffodils are already brown at the edges. The gentle mildness of a nice long spring just doesn't go along with New York living, I guess. More fitting to go from one extreme to the other, from a day of freezing rain or heavy, moist snow to the kind of weather that makes you ache to doff that extra layer of clothing or to head out for a walk in bare feet. Ah, spring in New York. If you don't keep a close eye on it, you could miss it altogether and find yourself trapped all of a sudden in a steamy, fetid subway that just days before was chilling you to the bone.