it's spring

signs of spring are more subtle here at the beach where our dominant colors are the tan of sand and bodies, and the blue of sky and water. green sometimes feels like an afterthought...yellow, a bit of frosting.

in the not too distant past, these islands were mostly treeless. photos from the time of the wright brothers show a bare, naked dune...we brought the trees and the grasses as we settled and built houses that protected the seedlings from being blown away by the ever-present winds - from the north and east in winter, the south and west in summer. the winds keep the trees low to the ground...but they flourish.

for me, spring at the beach is marked by the flight pattern of the osprey as they fly in front of our house searching for branches to build their spring nests, the call of the foxes in the woods, and our live oaks shedding their leaves. the first year i noticed it i called a friend in a panic that our trees were dying by some unseen blight...he calmed me and informed me that spring is when they shed.

live oak from my office...

i found it odd at first, but the more i thought about it, i realized that i was actually more in alignment with the live oaks than the daffodils. spring to me is less of a birth and more of a shedding...a releasing, a letting go. 

at my yoga studio each spring we do a guided compasionate cleanse to help our bodies shed toxins, winter weight, and spiritual gunk. each spring i end up feeling lighter and brighter in an energetic way. on the physical plane, spring cleaning happens seemingly on it's own and there was much purging of closets and magazines and things we thought we needed this weekend. 

so, as spring moves it's way into your world... do you find yourself to be more of a daffodil or a live oak? and what are your spring cleaning plans?

xo*m