Here it is March 11 and I’m on my way to my favorite hangout at the corner of Jones and Blount streets. All the trees, shrubs and flowers are greening up for spring as temperatures again soar into the upper 70’s. Nature has changed or have we changed it? Regardless, the flowers and grand old oaks surrounding the nearby Executive Mansion react to the early change in season. And don’t they know? Don’t they know it’s not their time? The flowers will be killed as the nature of all things is playing an ugly trick. There will certainly be more killing frosts before winter submits to the warmth of summer. And yes, new growth and blooming flowers will be killed and next year’s landscape may change just a little. Few of us will notice the change. Only a hand full of us will look deeper into the struggles our plants must overcome to once again bring us flowers in the spring.

Seeking context for a post on Hampton Thomas,  a family member who served in the civil war, I visited archives today with the sole purpose of reading a diary written by James E Green. Finding the inspiration I needed, it hit me when I stepped back out to enjoy the day’s warmth. War happens and it takes our most young and treasured. Like the killing winds of winter, we can try to predict it, but much goes into timing. And like in our anticipation of each new spring’s blooming, we are often duped by the cruel whims of our own human nature.