Wandering ever closer

As sunshine warms the icy blanket that has covered a large portion of the landscape for weeks since the groundhog's proclamation of a longer winter, we watch in anticipation as the gray skies melt away in ever growing rivulets of sparkling water. Heralding the gradual approach of a timid spring, the smell of greening reaches into the recesses of my memory; tugging gently at increasing thoughts of pastoral scenes, laden with a bounty of herbal blessings. Once again my wandering mind returns to serious thoughts of tender, young shoots peeking sweetly from their bed of soil where they have slumbered peacefully since the last frost of a crisp and colorful autumn. So, too, do my meanderings take me closer to decisions which seemed to have had an eternity in which to be made but now are pressing, with a determined insistance, demanding my attention. The choices before me are exciting and at times overwhelming as I, again, peruse the pages of heirloom tomatoes and spring greens. The pungent smell of dandelions haunts my mind in anticipation of medicinal wine brewing in the corner and the aroma of greens smothered in bacon dressing taunts my tastebuds. Spring has made another attempt to gently overcome the beauty of crystaline whiteness with fresh new growth that brings with it the promise of another kind of loveliness, growing ever more abundant in the weeks to come.
As each new season melds with the previous one I often think that the sweet visions and smells unfolding before me are my favorite...until the next one rolls around greeting my senses with yet another variety that seems to me to be the most pleasing. Here in my little valley, where it seemed she had forgotten me, spring has sent a reassurance of her eventual arrival in the weeks to come. Wandering through the southern mountains, creeping ever closer to the Appalachians, gaining strength with each passing day, she pushes on with growing determination to find me here, ever watchful, pondering my meanderings.