Caper Chops with Curried Carrots

The joke in northern states is that the year has two seasons, winter and road construction. The joke among snowbirds wintering in warmer climes is that the weather is boring, one perfect 80 degree day after another.

Here in the Mississippi flyway of eastern Missouri, we’re blessed by four such distinct seasons, how can one pick a favorite?

Still, spring is wondrous!

Its promise starts small with snowdrops, crocus and hyacinths then moves to showy pussy willow, witch hazel and forsythia. Soon daffodils line roadsides in thick drifts, reaching sunward first on south- and west-facing exposures, gradually crossing over.

Then even as deciduous leaves stain green, the flowering trees burst with blossoms that parade for weeks, one after the other: the magnolias, cherries, redbuds, crabapples, dogwoods and the pears. And in that midst bloom the azaleas and the rhodies, both shameless with bold color in their own time.

Cold mornings, the furnace still kicks on but in another week, the last-frost date will pass and the annuals can be safely tucked into the warming earth.

Spring. It arrived late and stayed long in 2007. But it’s still my favorite season, at least until fall.