what says Spring in your neck of the woods?

it's not the daffodils popping out of the planter boxes

or the absence of rain for the 3rd day in a row

it's not the birds chirping mightily in the Camilla bush

or the bush itself heavy with ripening buds

even the pussy willow tree sprouting it's feathery greens
doesn't convince me that Spring has Sprung.


What signals Spring in my neighborhood like nothing else
is the sound of the high school marching band
practicing as it marches round the football field next door.

We live right next door to the high school... our backyard looks over into the football field/track and we are privy to football games, track meets and marching bands!

I hear the whistle of the band major and then the pa rum pa pa pum of the drum and then the trumpets pick up the pace and everything else falls into sync. From my bedroom window I can look down into the field and get a birds eye view of the band.

They are warming up for the parade season. Memorial Day -- our local Sea to Ski Parade will be here before we know it.

Sometimes I try to take a morning nap (getting up early to get hubby off to work eventually catches up to me!) but on band marching days that will either wake me up or prevent me from dozing. Ah, it always makes me smile a little inside. Because this, more than daffodils, or birds chirping or the absence of rain, says Spring to me like nothing else.

What signals Spring in your neck of the woods?