Vernal Equinox: It's Not What You Think

Vernal Equinox, I remember him from my navy days. I knew him well. He was a strange guy, sometimes very cold and at other times able to whip up a storm at a moment's notice. He was a drunkard and always unpredictable, but for some reason I liked him. I remember one time we were out at sea off the coast of Vietnam for sixty days in a row one spring. He ran out of whiskey and became very turbulent. It was a change that surprised me to an extent that is still in my mind. He was as unpredictable as the weather there. He slept in the bunk just above me on the ship and the slightest thing would send him into a rage that was unexpected and to some extent terrifying. All that aside, he was a good man and I enjoyed his company when he was loaded, enough so that I could overlook his bizarre conduct when he sobered up after all those days at sea when he became an absolute turd. I still think of him these many years later, although I do not know how he got an entire day named after him.

On another note, here is something I look forward to each spring. These are the first starts of one of the most beautiful and sweetest smelling flowers of all, the Peony. What strikes me about them is the starts look like hands coming up out of the grave.