I have fallen victim to spring fever many times over the years. For years, I have put out tomato plants too early and lost them to frost. There have been years when I started yard work too early and was unprepared for spring blizzards. Spring fever, however, is a local condition. It depends on where you live. Chances are pretty good that where we now live, we won’t see frost again until the fall. Overnight lows are staying in the 40s and even into the 50s some nights. The lawn has greened up, and I’ve already mowed it, though we aren’t quite close to the place of weekly mowings. We’ve cleared the mulch from the strawberry plants so they can begin to spread. And the hyacinths and daffodils are blooming. The tulips are up and showing green, but no buds or blooms are visible. However, this is the time of the year when we get a lot of rain, and I haven’t adjusted to doing yard work in the rain yet. I have neighbors who will mow their grass when it is raining, but I haven’t felt a need to do that so far.

In addition to paying attention to what is happening in our yard and around our neighborhood, we pay attention to what is happening in the commercial gardens in Skagit County. Skagit County is known for its lush fields of tulips. The tulip festival brings more than ten thousand tourists to view the fields each spring. They purchase cut flowers and order bulbs for fall delivery. It gets so busy that you must buy advance tickets to wander the tulip fields.

The Skagit Tulip Festival is timed to run from early tulip color to the last of the late flowering tulip varieties, mainly in April and May. The exact timing is up to nature and dependent on the conditions of each year.

However, an attraction precedes the tulip festival and is currently underway. In addition to growing tulips and bulbs for commercial sale, the farms dedicate fields to growing daffodils and producing daffodil bulbs. The golden fields are just now reaching full bloom. At least six large fields of blooming daffodils are visible in the rural area between Mount Vernon and LaConner. It is a sight worth beholding.

There are different ways of measuring spring. The equinox and the lengthening of days is a sure marker. I am still surprised by the dramatic difference moving a bit north has made regarding how long the days are. Not only is the difference between the length of day in winter and summer greater, but the rate of change is dramatically quicker here than in the other places we have lived. Right now, we are gaining five minutes of extra daylight every day. We’ve gained a half hour since the equinox just five days ago. From now to mid-September, we’ll have more than 12 hours of sunlight each day.

Because our home has a solar system, we pay attention to how much sunlight we get. Even on cloudy days, the solar panels produce a significant amount of electricity. Over a year, we produce more than we consume. However, We do not have a battery system, so we consume power from the grid at night and during the shortest days of the winter and give extra power to the grid during the daytime and summer. With a net metering system, we pay only a base charge for having the meter on our home, providing extra power to the grid. Our application allows us to monitor solar production and energy consumption in real-time and obtain daily, weekly, and monthly averages.

After living most of our lives in pretty arid areas, adjusting to the rain is challenging. We’ve purchased good rain gear, and we walk every day. When it rains hard, we wear rain pants and jackets. Some days, like yesterday, we venture out with our jackets and leave the rain pants at home. Some days, we misjudge and return home to change out of wet clothing. Even though the outside temperatures are warm, we burn the fireplace almost as much on rainy days as in the middle of the winter.

I am especially eager for the tulips this spring. I keep checking the bulbs in our yard to indicate when to plan a trip to Skagit County to view the tulips. I also check the websites of one of the extensive gardens for additional information. Spring is especially alluring because of the ways that time passes so quickly as I grow older. There is another major dynamic operating in our world this year. The flood of distressing news from our nation’s capitol seems overwhelming. Every day, there is new information about personal grift, political corruption, presidential retribution, power consolidation, and illegal policy as the President, with the support of Republicans in the legislature, continues to dismantle the legal and political protections of the Constitution systematically. Recent stories of retribution against news agencies directly violating the Constitution's First Amendment are chilling. The parallels of the rise of authoritarianism in Europe in the 1930s are too obvious to ignore.

In this climate, it is reassuring to be reminded that nature continues despite the worst of human behavior. Even with the devastating effects of the political destruction of reasonable environmental protections, the tulips are emerging from the ground. The daffodils are blooming. The earth puts forth beauty that is even greater than the ugliness of petty revenge and overt racism that threaten our democracy. The resilience of nature serves as a reminder that even as governments rise and fall and administrations come and go, the earth continues to bring forth new life. Creation continues despite human depravity.

For my peace of mind, I am disciplined about getting away from my computer and spending time outdoors every day, even when the rain is falling. I pay attention to the flowers and look for signs of change. I am not avoiding the news but rather caring for myself so that I will be able to maintain energy for the long haul of this dark political season.

Now, more than ever, it is essential to stop and smell the flowers.