Spring Arrives in the Western Suburbs

You know it's spring when the large ants find their way into the house; the birds wake you very early in the morning, and the day starts (pick one - cloudy, sunny, hot, cold, windy, still) and by noon has changed dramatically to another pick and by evening yet another. Weather is very changeable here in spring! Five miles away there can be huge storms - you can hear them, but here the sun is bright in the sky...or vice versa.

But you know for sure that spring has come when the first brave blossoms arrive: the forsythia, daffodils, even the wondrous magnolia tree with it's huge blossoms that will be lovely for a day or a week, or at the most two, before a horrid storm rips the delicate petals from the tree and scatters them on the ground. But still people continue to plant them, even if the beauty lasts only a day this year - maybe next year..... Might be the same attitude that keeps people believing that the Cubs will win the World Series!

Photos were taken on my commute between Oak Park, where I teach and Addison, where I live. Both are western suburbs of Chicago

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