I see the dark silhouette of the tree. The backdrop is the soft pink sky. The tree’s green buds barely visible. This wiry elm didn’t get the news that spring came early this year. Its twists and turns more ominous and pronounced than I recall. Adjacent to the tulip tree in full bloom, a riot of celebration. Like night next to day, the moon hanging nearby the sun.

All around me, the thrumming vibrating of this season, life begetting life.

The cabbage butterflies, their wings stretching and fluttering intensely as they emerge from the chrysalis. They are testing the air, readying for their first ascent in their week-long life. The two black circles helping thwart predators, making this being appear bigger than it actually is. These are some of the greatest colonizers, coming from Europe hundreds of years ago and now as common as a housefly.

All around me, the thrumming vibrating of this season, life begetting life.

The ruby red-throated hummingbirds, their verdant green wings outspread as they hover and bounce and chirp loudly above. Finally stopping to perch on the long tendril of the star jasmine, delicate and bunched white petals on the cusp of opening. The hummingbird hatchlings nearby, thin beaks opening and closing, feeling the urgency of the now, survival.

All around me, the thrumming vibrating of this season, life begetting life.

Asparagus roots can grow 10-15 feet into the ground. I heard that they are growing asparagus in Peru now, in the high arid desert, now plentiful with water as the glaciers melt. They estimate maybe another decade or so before this opportunity will be gone. Geologic time folding in half and half and half until its standing in front of us with a question.

All around me, the thrumming vibrating of this season, life begetting life.

Solastalgia. That’s what they called it today. The Inuit partners in the North. The last ice area  without ice, the amautik parka no longer key for survival, wind patterns making it hard to read the ripples in the snow, when to move, when is safe. Feeling homesickness even though they are home. The thin white line separating 15,000 years of history to today.

All around me, the thrumming vibrating of this season, life begetting life.

She loved the stargazer lily, its perfume taking over the kitchen. Even the burnt orange stain on her fingers – after the pollen rubbed off, leaving an indefinite imprint – brought her joy. The sense that this flower can stand for prosperity, abundance, hope. It is also the flower of sadness, gifted in mourning.

All around me, the thrumming vibrating of this season, life begetting life.