Eagles Fan in 'Skins Land

Spring has sprung!  The grass has...aw forget it.  I'm not a poet, so you won't get a real ode from me.  Spring means a lot of things to me, not the least of which the almost constant aggravation from tree pollen from now until about Memorial Day.  That's one of the many reasons why I enjoy winter so much.  But even as I dread the annual assault on my sinuses, I can't help but notice the rebirth of everything green around me.  Today, I saw my first butterfly of the year, an eastern comma (yes, that's what it's called) on Roosevelt Island.  The rest of the island is starting to turn different colors besides the gray that it has been since November.  Winter's woodpeckers and sparrows have been joined by other, more colorful species which will soon be lost in the sea of green canopy that will replace sterile, bare branches.  And in the tidal pools under the year-round resident ducks and geese, little fish swim frantically and feed on the new algae bloom, to be joined later by the ospreys and terns that will hunt them.  Just south of the island, the Tidal Basin is preparing for its annual rite of spring, as the cherry trees seem to be in a state of pause, with an explosion of white and pink imminent.  And everywhere, people seem to be in a better mood.

Don't get me wrong -- I dread the inevitable and sometimes humbling hay fever attack that can happen at any time, Claritin or not.  But I still can pause and enjoy the beauty of nature's annual rebirth.  Besides, baseball is less than a week away. 

Happy Spring.