Green in the Coronavirus Spring

Apple trees, daffodils, garden boxes, and of course … grass.

Seems like there’s nothing but bad news on the news channels, whether it’s TV or phone or Internet. Listening to the Asian giant hornet news — and the way it’s slipping into Washington State, just like the virus did — knocked me sideways. And those unemployment numbers? They scare me.

Here in rural Vermont, away from the cities, it’s not so bad. I take a couple of masks in the car if I go someplace, like when I dropped off ten pounds of flour at the neighbor’s yesterday. (Yes, we are all baking. I scored a fifty-pound bag of really good flour via the Net, and with a little bit of optimism, I decided I won’t need all of it before the transport channels stabilize again. I hope.) But I only use one pair of nitrile gloves per week, or less, because most things are either here, or coming in the mail. Grocery shopping in person once every 10 days or so, in and out in a hurry.

What’s keeping me almost centered, though, is the pressure of Green.

Lilac leaves come before the shrub blooms.

I’ve seen the photos of blossoming trees in Central Park, and even tulips in the yard of a Facebook friend in Georgia. Here, May is a borderline month: five minutes of snow blew through this morning (three inches of it settled at high…