In Transition

     It was 34º on our porch this morning at 5:35.  Chances are that the skies were clear but it was still too dark to tell.  And I didn’t look to see if there was frost in the garden.  It could have been a few degrees colder – our porch is covered and the maximum/minimum thermometer is in a fairly protected area.
      The high yesterday was 54º which has been pretty much the story on our rainy spring days.  A drop of twenty degrees during the night usually means the cloud cover has dispersed and it will be glorious out for a day or two.  Good!  I’m ready for glorious!
       Spring is trying valiantly here in Oysterville, but everything seems to be just a step or two behind the rest of the peninsula.  The cherry trees in Nahcotta are bursting with blossoms.  Ours are still halfway between winter and full bloom.  Lichen is yet in evidence on some of the branches like a warm furry coat that the trees are reluctant to discard.  And no wonder!  34º with a little wind chill factored in equals brisk enough to bundle up!
     It puzzles me that, as the cherry trees blossom out, the lichen seem to disappear.  I’m not sure why that is.  I have read, though, that lichen are a good indicator as to pollutants in the atmosphere – the clearer the air, the more they thrive.  We apparently have good reason to boast about our clean air here in Oysterville.
     The picket fences along Territory Road – the ones that have never been painted, that is – also have a goodly amount of furry lichen covering them.  It makes them look very old and picturesque, though there are even older fences in the neighborhood, painted white and lichen-free.
     In the few minutes I’ve been writing, it has grown light outside.  The lawn is, indeed, blanketed in fine white frost and the sky is a clear, light, chilly-looking blue.  The Walking Women of Oysterville will be warmly wrapped this morning – but not in rain gear.  Hooray!