The past few days, I’ve been awakened against my will at 5:30 in the morning, in spite of having stayed up late the night before, by the dawn light creeping past the window shades. The sky turns light at an ever earlier hour; the rate of change increasing day by day, up until the spring equinox a week away.

It rained this morning, briefly. I walked home for lunch: the rain had released the smell of spring from the earth, it had washed the pavement clean, I couldn’t help but inhale deeply and fill my lungs with that scent.

At sunset this evening, a walk down to the waterfront. My mind was busy with work, but slanting light pushed even that away for a minute or two: blue sky and fast-moving dark clouds and bright sun: spring sky.