I recently learned that the Roman festivals for the vernal equinox were called Hilaria.
I’m all for a good party. We bottled my winter lager at the end of February, but it’s not quite ready yet. Still, I’ve got some IPA, porter, and stout around the place.
The days are getting longer. They haven’t inflicted the verdammt daylight savings time on us yet–which every spring plunges my morning dog walks back into winter darkness. So I’m still enjoying a hallelujah sunrise upon occasion. Numerous storms have hit California, and gods know we need the rain, so every so often I glance off to to the east bay hills at dawn and see divine light piercing and painting the cumulus along the ridges with such biblical vibrancy it stops me in my tracks.
The waterfowl which winter along the bay are beginning to move on, such as scoter, and I see some migrants. I saw a red-breasted merganser the other day for the first times in years, perhaps decades. I’ve also seen a belted kingfisher a couple times now. I see them a few times a year, and then they disappear for months. I hope they’re able to make a go of it. I love seeing numerous species becoming more at home back in the heart of the SF bay area.
I hope the wildlife refuge cautiously being established is able to welcome lots of species back, not just the endangered least tern (its reason for being here) but also clapper rails and lots of others.
Our yard is beginning to bloom. It’s springtime!–at least north fo the equator. (And those of you in Australia might welcome a cool down, anyway.) So enjoy it while it lasts. May a glorious sunrise greet you some morning soon, enough to stop you in your tracks and make you glad you’re alive. And if ales aid your celebrations, hoist a pint to Hilaria and the vernal equinox.
OmbudsBen 
I’d forgotten all about ‘Hilaria’. Thanks for reminding me, I could do with a bit of it at the moment, as we descend into autumn down here in the Southern Hemisphere… 🙂
Well, here we are, springing forward. Weather is highly unpredictable in the Rio Grande Valley of central NM. Yesterday in the mid-60s, right now it’s snowing. We have a fire in the fireplace, if you can imagine, last one of the season perhaps. Loving this unpredictable “spring.” As I said on my Facebook status, “Spring, my ass.” 8)
We’re getting close to the equinox, and now we’ve ‘sprung forward’, haven’t we? So spring is here. I love spring. I love summer, though, for the relaxed feeling of it (is it more relaxed when you’re not a parent with a kid to take to school?), but not for the HOT weather here on the other side of the tunnel. I love fall for the respite from the stupid heat. I love winter for the rain and the chilly weather. I guess I love it all.
I’m impressed by your knowledge of birds. All I know is, “Oh, that’s a bird”. Unless it’s a bluejay, because they suck outside your window in the morning. Blech. At least crows wait a bit longer.
On the bright side, Norwicher, you won’t have to worry about wildfires for a while, yeah?
It’s funny, yb, I associate Rio Grande with Texas, but of course you in New Mexico see all that water first. (Sort of like driving next to the Arkansas river in Colorado … ) I hope it was a pleasant fire–and your last of the season.
Thanks for the bird kudos, J. I bet you know more than blue jays, btw–like “ducks” for example.
Out here we get mostly scrub jays; blue jays are actually an eastern bird–Mrs. O and I have a joke about them, as she never saw any the first couple of times we went east, so she believes them to be mythical.