Spring Equinox

Spring sprung at 6:44 AM Friday in the central time zone of the U.S., but I doubt nature bothered to consult the calender.


A Bradford Pear tree blooms in front of a flag-bearing porch in Webb City, Missouri. last weekend.



A garter snake takes advantage of the rays at the nature center two days ago, unconcerned that it was still officially winter.



A friend of mine told me that she'd heard a folk tale that raw eggs were easier to balance on end during Spring equinox. As unlikely as it sounds - what the heck? - we tried it. She was able to stand a number of them on end (which I promptly upset when I came over to her house, walked in the room and gently set down the camera) a number of hours before the actual equinox and concluded that all you need was patience to do the trick.

I looked into this folk tale and found it is usually attributed to the Chinese. I was also reminded that a number of spring/egg things relate back to the the ancient Germanic festival of Ostara (celebrating the goddess Eostra), including the naming of estrogen, the name of the holiday "Easter" a number of other egg-related traditions.

I guess that from now until Easter, it's the season of the egg. This is going to rev me up for some Easter egg fun.