What is it that makes us so enlightened, so cheerful and so convinced in even better tomorrow every time we cross yet another mid March calender milestone? Year after year, country after country this feeling stays with us. Even if you are lucky enough to live in a place with no winters and rainy autumns, you cannot help but notice those extra flowers, appreciate those extra hours you spend on the beach or admire that extra sheen in the nature everywhere around you...March has always been a special month for me and I did experience that special internal cheer when I was in Eau Claire, Washington, Miami, Kyiv or London at the time...
In Kyiv March usually means a slow transition from muddy dark winter days to periods of a bright sunshine, leaving office in a day light and feeling of liberation when piles of snow slowly leave sidewalks and you can walk home without a constant danger of draining yourself in puddles of melting snow that occupied the city for the previous four months...Kyiv seems to undergo a major face lift and you cannot help but admit how beautiful it is with its numerous parks, vast squares and powerful river dividing the city into two banks...
My first spring in the United States was in Wisconsin. What can I say about winters in Mid West? Well...there is plenty of sunshine, there are no puddles of melting snow but there is a constant breathtaking feeling of an extreme cold that follows you everywhere and I mean everywhere you go... and there is snow... a lot of snow... Digging cars after the latest storm or simply trying to find a way home when all you could see was blinding whiteness coming upon you from every side and taking possession of your windshield was a weekly occurrence. Spring had never been more appreciated. :) People usually got surprised when I was constantly shivering and trying to hide away from the snow in Eau Claire. In every one's mind I was coming from Ukraine and was supposed to be used to bitter cold winters and meters and meters of snow falling over one night. Nobody suspected that Kyiv experienced only about two weeks of Wisconsin winter and the rest of the time people "enjoyed" rain mixed with snow and a constant lack of sun but nothing even close to the coldness of bright sunny days in Eau Claire...
When I moved to Washington, I knew I would have a completely different spring from anything I experienced before. It was amazing... The intensity of DC spring does not come from a temperature change or disappearance of the snow. Winters in Washington are pretty mild and blue sky is nothing but common...The breathtaking beauty comes from an endless parade of flowers taking over the city in a mere week or so. Early cherry blossom around Tidal Basin, pink magnolias on the National Mall and colourful azaleas around the Capitol building are simply mesmerizing. If you are ever in DC around this time, go to the Jefferson Memorial before the sunset, sit on its marble stairs and watch all the cherry trees, people passing by and warm sun setting over the city...Moments like that makes me feel how lucky we are, how much beauty there is around us and how treasured every day is...
This year for the first time I experienced my March blues in London. There is no real winter in this city and spring usually comes very early. Beautiful crocuses were poking their heads as early as the end of February and sunny days were becoming longer and longer every minute. Regent's and St. Jame's parks are my favourite spring spots here. Every week you can enjoy new flowers opening up to warm spring sun rays and flocks of birds cheering to a new beginning...
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