SPRING ... FORWARD

I was debating about which blog I should write: One about daylight saving time? Or one about Spring?

Daylight saving time begins next Sunday, while Spring begins the following Sunday.

Thinking about DST always makes me feel a bit depressed because we essentially will be retreating back to the darkness of early mornings typical of January.  We will not regain early light again for another month.

In contrast, thinking about Spring makes me feel excited and optimistic because soon there will be daffodils, and Gordon’s crocuses blooming across the street. And robins returning in big flocks. And buds on the trees. And violets between the cobblestones in the backyard. And warm southern breezes. And apricot trees in bloom. And birdsong at dawn.

It’s too bad that DST’s “spring forward” so often carries negative connotations for me, as it seems to be an oxymoron for a big step backward. But, now, I am going to try really hard to think of DST as just another wonderful harbinger of Spring.

Spring Forward!!!

Beware the Ides of March

On the Ides of March (March 15th) Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate by Brutus, Cassius, and 60 other co-conspirators. Caesar had been warned by a Seer to be on his guard against a great peril on the Ides of March. This warning is most famously dramatized in William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, with the words (spoken by said Seer) “beware the Ides of March.” The other famous Shakespearean phrase from this same play is “Et tu, Brute?” which was spoken by Caesar when the “unkindest cut” was inflicted by Caesar’s friend Brutus. (Fortunately, I have not needed to remember that line a whole lot—exept, perhaps, in jest.)

However, for the past fifty years, on the 15th of March, I have remembered, “beware the Ides of March.” I am happy to report that I do not recall anything horrible happening to me on all those Ides of March for these many years. I think I remember it because it just sounds profound or spooky to mutter under my breath, “beware the Ides of March!”

This year, however, the Ides of March may prove to be bad luck for many people. That is because of Daylight Savings time. Someone figured out that there is a 17 percent increase in fatal accidents on the Monday following the time change! So, be careful out there: we don’t want THIS Ides of March to be one to remember…. (Except with humor! :))




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