Ah, spring. What else to do on a beautiful, sunny spring day but go for a drive? The sun was out this morning and the road was calling, so off we headed; Brother Pete, TK and myself; to heed that call. We headed out east, along the Clackamas River. Clackamas. Great word that, but then again I do love river names in this part of the country. (Beth and I have a tendency to yell the word “Skookumchuck” when we cross that eponymous river just because the name is so much fun to say, like Clackamas). It is a road I have never been on, a bendy, windy road that hugs the river as it goes.
The river was wild today; rushing through turns, scrambling over cataracts, glowing turquoise with jaunty little white caps in the spring sunshine. There is something about that color that just says cold to me. You look at it and know in your bones that not that long ago all that water was snow. In spring the rivers around here are often tumultuous things; no meandering waterways here, no lazy rivers, but fast flowing from all the melt and the rain. I like them best that way. I like to feel the energy and the power of it all, it demands a certain respect.
Changeable. I think that word is the best way to describe spring here. The rivers are changeable this time of year, the weather is changeable, we who live here are a bit on the changeable side as well. Again, I like it that way; winter is often monotonous, a long string of wet, cold, gray days with the occasional break of cold, clear sunshine; the little winter gems that see us through. But spring, spring is anything but monotonous. A good deal of that snow melt that sent the river charging down the hills on this warm and sunny March day was the result of the snow we got just two days ago. Snow that covered my deck and mucked up the streets and made the second day of spring feel like the first day of January.
Then: Wednesday Evening, March 21st
Now: Saturday afternoon March 24th
Snow and sun. Winter and Spring. Changeable. But for today it was a warm spring day. Today it was the roar of the river, the comfort of the sun, and good company. Back then, it was snowy, then again tomorrow it may be rainy, but for now it was spring and that is all I need.