Blackberry Winter Evolves into Cottonwood Spring...

Spring and Winter perform a striptease competition as they via for their rightful place in the calendar year. Winter refuses to give up her title and Spring doesn't yet have enough power to push Winter out of the way. The tease begins for the next six weeks. One step forward and two steps back...same ole bump and grind routine.

Slowly, Winter starts to shed her snow accumulations, wind chills and artic blasts decrease.  Spring jumps in with a new twist of her own. March flowers come up, a few dogwood trees bloom and the crappie begin to bite. As the people in our state, experience  a few days of nearly perfect weather; we get our hopes up with thoughts that winter is over. It is close to the end of April...Winter isn't through by a long shot.

'Early bloomers'  till up their gardens, buy flowers, and start to pick out colors to paint the outside of their homes.  Camping trips are planned around the best fishing holes remembered from last Spring. We, Missourians, are energized and ready for a whole new life. We go to bed one night with our 'to do list' ready for the morning and wake up to a heavy frost, temperatures in the  20's and we are baffled by what we see!  The weather channel lets us down when we see the extended forecast... not much change for the next five days or more.  To add insult to injury there is a chance of snow in the forecast...1-2 inches before the weekend.

Everyone is upset! "This is just not right!  It was 75 degrees yesterday!! " can be heard from nearly every home, especially mine.  And then I remember my grandmother, Mamamae, and I know we are having 'Blackberry Winter'. She would tell me every year not to get super excited about the spring like weather until after the middle of May. "We have to allow the blackberry bushes to bloom and get ready to produce before any permanent warm weather will stay." I can still hear Mamamae's voice giving this sage knowledge. What a good memory to keep. I was born and raised in Kentucky. Mamamae's advice is true for Missouri also; finally Spring arrives. Almost overnight , it seems the world bursts open with every imaginable color of green. Yards have to be mowed. The woods are thick with foliage and mushrooms. The temperature finally reaches a descent degree and then proceeds to go at least ten degrees beyond comfortable. The humidity finds its home for the next four months. I have had my last 'good hair day' until September.  In the blink of an eye Spring becomes Summer.

Before May bows out, there is a week of Cottonwood Spring. The silver maple or cottonwood trees burst forth and pollinate. Once pollination is over the trees loose their 'cotton like seeds' as the winds send them in every direction. The stronger the winds, the heavier the 'snow.'   At times the air is filled with white bits of fluff.  As I stare from my window it appears to be snowing. Once again, nothing in nature is quite what it seems.  The white 'flakes' flying through the air stand out against the uncountable shades of green. It is another reminder from Mother Nature, another  transition from one season to the other. It is Missouri in the Spring.