The colors were clear and crisp. This is what I saw as I hurried to have my last fresh mango smoothie. Why was it so delicious? Because the mango had traveled less than a 1/2 hour to get to the tienda(store). 
However I had a grand surprise when I looked out my Colorado window. Yellow, the surprising warmth of March had turned up the spring dial and there was yellow forsythia prancing about.
We have even bravely tucked winter blankets and coats away. One has to be very cautious about that here as a snow storm or two has been known to quickly cover all the bright promise of spring. Even our crab apple tree burst forth in frothy glory and I was able to hang around under its branches and paint my first plein aire of the spring of 2012.
Over here in Denver
Where the Plains surrender
Fragile blooms of yellow and
white
Are stepping out, into sunlight
Playing odds that winter's dead
To volunteer a flower bed
Weeds and grass are in a rush
To make it coarse or make it plush
Mother Earth's mountain breast
Melt and milk the magpie nest
The swelling banks once panned for metals
Now have skiers that switched to
pedals
Over all the mountains sing
Winter's over - welcome Spring. Poem by Don Rehling
2007
