Letting go of Winter

Unlike most people I love winter. For me the melting snow triggers serious sadness. I will watch the last traces of snow along the treeline, cheering on the cold cloudy days that keep it alive. But eventually it happens.
A really warm, sunny day comes along and it's over.
All the ground is bare and brown.
The grass from the fall is all
packed down from months
under snow.

It is really unattractive.
I know that Spring will
bring beautiful things. Like these crocus (croci?). And the daffodils are coming up (pictures to follow at a later date). So even though there were snow flurries yesterday I am beginning the process of letting go of Winter. Today I spent some time in the greenhouse transplanting seedlings and root cuttings. It was nearly ninety-five degrees in there and quite a shock to my system. It made me want to do the snow chant. (There's an old Calvin and Hobbes comic where they do a chant to bring on snow and I've always remembered it.) I don't want to abuse it so I'm putting it away until October/November.
So, I think it was because I was a little off kilter that Cleo caught me off guard tonight. Cleo is our Emu and she loves shiny things like earrings (belt buckles, sunglasses, corneas) and I know that she has been eyeing my earrings and I always kept an eye on her when I am in the barn. Tonight she got behind me and I didn't pay attention to where she was and then I felt my ear being ripped off. I was shocked. I'm actually glad that she picked my earring over my cornea, but it really hurt. Luckily no real damage was done to my ear. She did however totally change the shape of my earring.