Shorts in March

It seems that I've been talking so much about weather this winter that every reference has become a kind of cliche. At the same time riding in shorts and short sleeves on the 14th of March is definitely not the expected pattern. I came back from yesterday's ride and the temperature was 73 degrees. And, as can be seen from the photos, the sun was out without a cloud in the sky. I passed a kind of ramsheckle farmhouse with all the laundry hanging out to dry - it may be hard to see but the first line is all quilts and very colorful when I got a little closer. It made me recall how my mother did the same thing... first real spring day and she was hanging the laundry on the lines in the back yard (am I really old enough to remember days before modern washer/driers? wow!). The line of daffodils in the other photo was just further proof of our early spring. I was seeing the first forsythia coming into bloom, the beginnings of the fruit trees blossoming and, of course, the farmers out with tractors and plows getting an early start on their spring planting. I had a kind of strong headwind to contend with for much of the ride but it is far less hostile when it is warm. And when I got home (from fifty miles of back roads) I headed out to the back deck with a beer and watched the ducks paddling around our pond and fighting over the affections of the very popular single female. It doesn't get much better.