With Apologies to the Song of Songs

For lo, the winter is past,
The snows are over and done
The cooing of the mourning dove is heard in my backyard,
And I've already been outside to hang laundry on the clothesline!

Father H. has been telling us these past two weeks that "Lent" comes from an old word meaning "springtime." And this week, finally, it's starting to feel--and look--like spring. I can see grass in my front yard, and I slogged through the mud pit that is my backyard so I could get to the clothesline to hang laundry. This morning, for the first time this year, I heard the birds outside when I was waking up.