Around the Bluhmin’ Town

By

Judy Bluhm

Love is in the air! And so are the doves, finches and hummingbirds. Spring brings the promise of hope, new life, fresh beginnings, green leaves and babies. Lots of them. Baby finches, in all their bright yellow glory, hang on the finch seed socks that I have hanging and chirp constantly, trying to figure out what they are supposed to do. Mama birds will hunt for seeds, swallow them and then regurgitate it into the baby’s mouths, as if to say, “Start eating and stop crying!” New starlings fly like jumbo jets without brakes, landing haphazardly on the edge our hanging feeders, wondering what to do next. Baby quail the size of thimbles fan out and chase after their mothers, just trying to keep up.

Eat! That is the mantra of Spring. It is when birds, bunnies and lizards frolic in the grass, nibble on all things that are edible and decide it is time to expand their families. There is a whole lot of lovin’ going on in the wild right now and it has resulted in babies everywhere. In the barn rafters, in tiny nests in the trees, from holes in the ground and under the eaves of the house, something tells me that it is baby-making season.

Spring is more than that. It is hope in a sunrise, faith in a seedling that has taken root, wonder in a small bird with beating wings that flies 5000 miles just to grace our feeder. It is light that streams in our windows at six o’clock in the morning, the breeze that gently caresses us, the flowers that push through dormant earth to greet us. Spring is upon us. And we’re ready for it.

Spring is the Season of Love. And it can happen at any age. World War II veteran Harold Terens is 100 years old and marrying his sweetheart, 96-year-old Jeanne Swerlin. The Florida couple plan a romantic wedding in a small chapel in France, near the beaches where Terens landed as a 20-year-old Army Airforce corporal on D-Day.

Spring brings change. My pony, Buttercup, used to look like a woolly mammoth in the winter months, all white and furry, a rotund beast. And then in March she would shed her thick wool and become a sleek palomino with smooth golden skin and a white shiny mane. That’s my dream! To shed my “fluffy” look from winter and emerge as a sleek, smooth pony. Hmmm . . .I can dream.

My friend says that since her husband died last year, she is “lost.” Then she got a little dog from a rescue and joyfully goes for walks every day. Somehow, life finds a way. The sunflower that arises in between cement blocks in a wall, shouts out, “I am here, and I am alive.” A baby bird sings and chirps, “I am hungry, and life is good.”

Sometimes it takes a Spring Day to help us realize that life is worth living. And like the sleek pony that sheds all burdens of winter, so can we.

Judy Bluhm is a writer and a local realtor. Contact Judy at [email protected] or visit www.aroundthebluhmintown.com.