Dear Shirley,
Unless you have experienced the long cold winter, you cannot savor the coming of spring.
That is what I tell myself on cold days when I get postcards from friends in Florida or down in your state of Arizona.
I don’t know what you consider signs of spring in Tucson. I suppose it’s when you have to crank up your air conditioners. Or put those shades on the windows of your cars. I know you don’t set your clocks ahead to observe Daylight Saving Time.
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We are being surrounded now with the signs of spring. We know it’s spring when the ice houses come off the lakes. We don’t have to wait for the swallows to go back to Capistrano.
We watch the different birds showing up each day. We see the snow drifts shrinking. We see more people out walking their dogs. And even Dot.Com, my dachshund, spends a little more time outside in this milder weather.
You know it’s spring around here because UND is advertising for bids on construction of the new medical school building.
Down in your neck of the woods, Gary and Sharon Rezac Andersen are hosts for a UND gathering at Canoa Ranch Golf Club in Green Valley tonight. That’s not too far from Tucson. There was another UND alumni gathering Wednesday at Paradise Valley.
We know it’s spring around here when the water pipes keep breaking deep down under the streets. We know it’s spring when there is no longer enough snow for sleds on dikes along Belmont Road.
As winter dissolves into spring, there are heroes among us. They are the people who carry the Herald early in the morning and the letter carriers who make their way over ice in extreme cold. And our heroes are those who clean the streets and highways.
Well, tell the snowbirds that things are looking whiter and brighter around here and soon will be greener and cleaner.
If anyone asks you, the Grand Forks breakfast down at Mesa will be held next year on March 5. And winners of gifts this year included Everett Knudsvig, Kay Odegaard, Mike Conneran, Mike Brewer and Julian Slominski, Ron Bushy and Joe Dunn.
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Love from your sister Marilyn eating a Mr. Goodbar and reading a flier about Gardening Saturday coming up on the first weekend of April.
Spring Break
P.S. I guess you know Monday is St. Patrick’s Day. It’s also the beginning of spring break at UND and at least one busload of students will ride the Student Today Leaders Forever bus to give some help along the way. Some students may be going to the beaches and faraway places. But those I ran across in the Memorial Union this week were looking forward to a week at home.
Kristin Faris will spend the days off at her home north of Bemidji. Danielle Kloek is going home to Blaine, Minn. And Katie Zallar is glad spring is coming and she can spend a little time at home in Cook, Minn.
Oh yes, she did go to Florida last year. And Andie Taborsky of Bismarck is heading to Florida with her mom next week.
Reach Marilyn Hagerty at mhagerty@gra.midco.net or by telephone at (701) 772-1055 .
