Mississippi is marching from winter into spring.
And one would think the older you get the less you pay attention to things like that, you had seen it happen so many times before.
But I find it just the opposite.
The more seasons I've seen change, the more I marvel at them.
You get to the point that you anticipate what is coming next in seasonal changes.
As the cascades of yellow jasmine bravely climb through the tops of the pines and leads the way, the fruit trees unhesitatingly follow.
That's where we are now.
Bradford pears are on the verge of blossoming into white billowing clouds of springtime.
They are quite popular as driveway borders.
I almost missed my for-sure barometer that spring has arrived in the Deep South this year.
And it's not a flower blooming, but a left over from winter.
We have a couple of brands of oak trees in our yard that don't drop their leaves in fall; nor winter, but hang on to them all through the dormant season right up until the time the sap starts to rise in the spring.
Then, they finally let go of the old in lieu of the new growth.
And when I was kicking around the idea for this story, I was thinking I'd get a shot of one of those fully dead-leafed trees as an example.
But low and behold, they've already started dropping their leaves this season and the young sprouts are already popping out.
And the white-blossomed trees are popping out all over, too. Some are Bradford pears.
But there's one very sharp thorn tree that I got from a Master Gardeners of Jackson plant sale several years ago that they swore would be a good show piece every spring. But up until this year, all it's done has drawn blood when I'd got too close to it with the riding mower. And it was about to meet its doom shortly.
But just as many a penitent does on death row, it displayed some redeeming factor in the 11th hour just to stay its execution this year.
It billowed into copious cushions of white blooms this week.
Oh, they'll last about two weeks and then the blood-letting will begin again.
And that will last all of the rest of the grass mowing season.
There used to be miles and miles of runaway wild white blooming trees on I-55 south of Canton.
There's still a bunch.
But the area is booming more than blooming now, with new roads and industry and neighborhoods, so much so that the stands of trees are heavily punctuated by progress.
But hey!
I'll take the progress over the trees, because there's plenty of trees left to get the idea.
And they'll take over everything again, anyway soon enough.
And in no time, these white early blooms will be joined by dogwood and redbud.
Which will transcend into wisteria and then azalea, which will lead to ripe tomatoes and real watermelons and sure 'nuff summer before you know it.
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