Spring Cleaning for Mother Nature’s Mood Swings

by holly@hollyonthelake.com

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Brrrr! It’s Friday morning and 19 degrees windchill!

Was the 84 degree temp on Wednesday just an April Fool’s joke?

Spring

Ah, the smell of mud and moss

The crocuses are coming!

Night is filled with a chorus of frogs

and the squawking of geese,

calling their kin from the south.

The resident beavers,

freed from beneath their glass ceiling,

reclaim the lake

and answer my playful warnings with their own.

Painted turtles do a dance—he tickles her chin.

They come to my canoe and look right up at me.

Are they too sleepy to be afraid,

or too much in love?

Bluebirds have already claimed house #40.

Miss Lilac prepares to unfurl her green flags,

while the pussy willows fluff up their furry tails.

It’s all so exciting!

If only there were not that ominous

something wrong.

The frightening math

of 81 degrees

on the 26th of March

at the 45th parallel.

( ©March 26, 2007     Holly Jorgensen)

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That was eight years ago. We Minnesotans still love our warm spring days. But now we know they are not just anecdotes, or the stuff of poems. They are breaking records, yet are only mild examples of the extremes happening world-wide. The science is indisputable – climate change is here, wreaking all kinds of havoc with our planet and our economies. The good news is that fewer people are wasting energy denying the facts and more are investing in energy-saving and carbon-reducing technologies. For 3 minutes of entertaining good news on global innovations, click here. http://climaterealityproject.org/video/good-news

We can’t all replace our old windmills with turbines, but we can all do something. Recycling is a start. If you’re busy with spring cleaning and wondering what to do with the excess stuff so many of us have, or if you actually need some things but would rather not buy new and feed the engines of over-consumption and pollution, you might enjoy reading my blog of last April, Free Stuff at the Curbside Boutique! It’s April again and pick-ups start soon in many communities. If you’re not quite ready for cruising the curbs, the church rummage sales are right around the corner, and the second-hand stores are brimming with gifts from other people purging. Whether you donate your cast-offs or shop second-hand, you are spring-cleaning more than your own little habitat. You’re helping to reduce waste on the planet and taking a small step toward stability in the weather, and perhaps in your own wallet. Have fun!

8 thoughts on “Spring Cleaning for Mother Nature’s Mood Swings”

  1. It feels good to be Spring Cleaning and getting ready to sell my stuff at auction rather than dumping in landfill. The best part, though, is taking my lunch or coffee break out on the patio to watch the birds in the sunshine. I’m anxious to finish my cleaning and be all ready to start gardening.

    1. Thanks for reading, Carol. It was fun to see your “spring cleaned” cute country porch, and I look forward to our chats moving out to your patio and my deck.

  2. Those pictures are amazing! We are so fortunate to be able to live with wildlife. Spring is so beautiful, and even tho we have to *get* thru winter, the changing of the seasons keeps us in tune with nature.

    1. Thanks, Susan. I’m glad you enjoyed the pictures. Think of the fun I had taking them!

    1. True, Mary. It’s easy to feel that it’s all hopeless, but there are so many ways to change the future. It’s actually pretty exciting.

  4. Yes, I love how your words are beautiful, helpful & smart. It’s easier & sometimes more fun to recycle, reclaim, reuse, donate. We can be kind to our mother earth & still have a blast doing it!

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