Nature’s first green is gold. —Robert Frost

As soon as our last snow melted, I began my daily “green watch.” Every day, I’d go outside and search my flower beds, hoping to find a sign of plants coming back to life.  This morning I  found what I’ve been looking for.

After the harsh, five-month-long winter we just survived, anything green and growing is so welcome. And that, I believe, is why Robert Frost described that first growth as gold. Don’t think of the color gold; think of something valuable and precious.

End of poetry lesson.

Today’s signs of spring range from the tiniest to the largest, from delicate to powerful. Some signs are not even what you see, but what you don’t see.

We begin in my flowerbeds.

Then we move down the street to an active building site. Though construction never paused for the winter, it is back in full swing now as Building 7 takes shape.

We end with a before-and-after comparison. The first picture was taken in January. The pile actually grew higher before it finally melted away last week.

And there it is. Some of nature’s first green. Welcome back, grass!