DESERT IN BLOOM

In my other (pre-retirement) life when I lived in Minnesota during the month of March , the first day of spring, March 21, always seemed like a mistake--a cruel-joke calendar miscalculation on the part of the ancient Egyptians.

In Minnesota on March 21, there was often still snow on the ground—and even if the ground was bare, there was always a spring snowstorm or icestorm being threatened on the weather channel. We were never completely out of the woods snow-wise until maybe June 1 or so. So March 21st was just a date on the calendar—not safely and absolutely spring.

Arizona is certainly the desert state, full of cactus and sand and heat (if you’ve ever been here in July when the temperatures are in the 100s, you’d know for sure). However, the month of March truly is spring out here. Right now, the yard of the house we’re staying in is in full bloom—flowers everywhere.

So instead of cactus, we’re looking at this:

And instead of tumbleweed, we’re admiring this . . .

And this . . . And instead of snow banks, this . . .

And this . . .

Everybody here is bracing for the Arizona heat and dryness that are surely on their way. Summer is the time of year when Arizonians run their air conditioners like we Minnesotans run our furnaces in the winter. But right now, the scenery is spectacular and it’s hard to remember that there might be snow on the ground anywhere else in the world.