When seasons collide

Winter met spring this week, and we all held our breaths hoping for a swipe right or at least a long pleasant stint in the friend zone.

We’re not disloyal to the season at hand, we just think it feels good every now and then to still feel our faces when we stick them toward the sun. We think we’d like this “spring” thing we hear people talking about if we could just get to know her a little better. We’d like her to stick around.

Seasonal transitions seem quite lovely in other parts of the country. They lack all that all that bluster, waterworks and drama familiar to us. Midwestern seasons tend to be very territorial and the nastiest ones always stay the longest.

At first, this particular convergence started kind of sweet and slow.

Wednesday night we took what we anticipate will be the last run of the season down the sled hill across the street. We plowed through knee-deep snow to get to the top of the hill (winter) skidded merrily down and landed in a puddle (spring).

Yesterday, I left my jacket at home and enjoyed a lovely walk through town where I spotted several signs of a Wisconsin spring — strollers, shorts, and road work signs.

It would have been nice to see that dance last a good long while.

But, signs of trouble swept in quickly as spring rains and winter snow melt clogged gutters and flooded roads. All around Wisconsin sump pumps chugged in unison “Can’t you two get along?”

Alas, it’s never easy when seasons collide here in Wisconsin, but it does make for some pretty pictures.