Spring arrives today and begins unpacking sun rays and breezes for a three-month stay that has been anticipated with eagerness on the Island. After this winter past, we might expect spring to arrive with trumpets and instantaneous foliage. But no, the Island's version of spring is another name for late winter, and we're a number of weeks away from the kind of greenery we associate with this soft season.

When the morning sun comes, it still is likely to discover fields of diamonds on the grass where frost has bedded down. Meanwhile we welcome the birds and early flowers, and wait for the beach roses that will come before the season changes again.