APRIL, MONTH OF MANY FACES...

April may arrive with snow in my northeast Ohio. It's not that rare; April in Ohio is a free-form month of many faces, and we've even had a snowy April Easter! I found this ode to April in my journals, and I share it to remind you, as it reminded me, that Springtime always does arrive in its own good time, not ours.---r.m.m.

           APRIL DAYS...




Snow this morning put a grizzled face on April
and I complained:
Some awful April day this is,
some awful, snowy April day.
And then I conjured in my mind
the magic of some different April days;
Some sweet-surprise-you April days,
beaming sunny, warm and cheerful April days;
sandwiched brilliantly between the
cloudy, rainy, icy, snowy,
cold and gloomy,
final-winter-tantrum April days;
Days of April witchcraft,
prancing in on kindly breeze and softening sun,
blithe and charming,
oh seductive April days;
Precious and more prized than later days
of spring and summer,
richer by rambunctious contrast,
gladsome, bright and sunny,
warm and sexy siren April days.

--from rose moore's "Valley Songs," written April 3, 1994 on a deep-snow Easter morning in my valley, preceded by a day of 70 degrees.

ATTACHED early-April photos are from different years in my northeast Ohio snowbelt valley: --"Easter Snow" was photographed on an April Easter! --"Spring Green Around The Creek" was taken on an April 1st in a year when spring growth came very early.--"Leafless Trees Against An April Sky" is from an Arbor Day one year when spring growth came late.   CLICK ON EACH PHOTO TO ENLARGE FULL-FRAME.