Longer Days, Promise of Spring

I drove home into the sun today. First time I've done that in I don't know how long. It means:

• I left work much earlier than normal.
• The sun is setting later than normal.
• And there were fewer (many fewer) clouds than normal.

These are all important, but it is the middle one that offers the most hope to the iced up steelheader. As the days get longer they also get warmer -- if only slightly. These first longer days offer a hint of spring to come. Aldo Leopold saw spring in a skein of geese, cleaving the murk of March thaw. I'm even more of an optimist. I see spring on January days where the temperature never threatens to hit 30. I see it in the sun that sets after I arrive home, not before I leave work.

Spring, like the geese, has not arrived yet, but its promise is there hanging in the western sky. I will hold that promise until the ice melts and I can again pursue the steel. In the meantime, I'll take a break to the land of eternal spring. More on that soon.