Signs of Spring

Because I live in a place that has glorious weather about 300 days out of the year (the other days: 55 days of excessive heat and 10 days of rain) I find myself sometimes defending Southern California's seasons. Because we do have them. I promise. I just like to think that we're so in tune with nature here that we only need very subtle signs of seasonal changes. I don't need a snowstorm hitting me over the head to know that it's winter. I let the fact that I'm not wearing flip-flops handle that.

But lest you don't believe me, allow me to share a few signs of spring with you:

1.) The air is filled with the smell of jasmine and orange blossoms. It's heavenly. And deadly. Because the smell of spring is also the smell of mutant allergies that are trying to kill me. I was standing outside the other night, practicing my nunchuck skills (which are quickly become extra awesome), and I could feel my throat closing and nose swelling and my eyes puffing and that desire to shove a knitting needle down my ear to scratch became almost unbearable.

2.) The emergence of leaves on the non-native trees. We have trees that drop their leaves here too. Just outside my office window are a row of lovely trees (thanks to wikipedia I learned that they are sweetgum trees. The kind that drop the spiky balls.) that are sprouting new leaves. And the fact that their old leaves turned and dropped in January does not mean we can't rejoice in new ones just two months later.

3.) The emergence of tube tops. You know it's spring when we go from it being 60 and sunny to 80 and sunny and girls start digging out their favorite swatches of stretchy fabric.

4.) The return of the freckles on my nose. Much like the swallows returning to Capistrano, every spring the freckles on my nose show up. Because it's 80 and sunny again it feels nice to be outside (Not in a tube top. You're welcome.) so I've started to take walks on my lunch break and the sun has brought the freckles back. Hooray!

5.) That haze around the mountains that isn't smog. In the spring we often get some coastal clouds that burn off in the morning and create this dreamy, slightly diluted sunshine effect. It makes everything look soft.

6.) Every strawberry stand is open for business and you wish you had cash on you every time you pass one.

7.) Newspaper articles about the Dodgers appear more frequently. My dad always says that General Conference and Baseball Opening Day are the two pillars of spring. (Guess what the two pillars of fall are.)

What are your favorite signs of spring?