Time’s a‘wastin’ — go sailing
Issue 60 : May/Jun 2008
May is bustin’ out all over! every year it’s the same and every year it’s a big surprise all over again. Spring has arrived. The sun spends more time in our hemisphere, so days are longer and warmer. We don’t get up and go to bed in the dark. The kids are wearing shorts and riding bikes. (It’s not that warm yet, but what do they know? These are the same kids who couldn’t wear hats all winter for fear of messing up their hair.)
There isn’t a leaf on a tree yet here in Minnesota. I’ve counted a few crocus blossoms, but the rest of the bulbs are just waking up and the fl oral trees are showing nothing more than mere buds. The grass is getting green, but there’s nothing to mow yet. The birds are back, but they haven’t hatched an egg.
Most importantly, the boatyard beckons once more. We wade through the mud and climb up to our cocooned babies and throw tarps off into the melting snow piles on the north side of our boats.
Yes indeed! The spirit’s in the air everywhere!
It might as well be spring! The snowy season that just passed was truly the winter of our discontent. It was colder and snowier than usual in the northern plains. The snow fell at the end of November and never had a chance to melt. By the first months of 2008, waiting for spring was more difficult than ever.
As much as I like fall for its beauty and the end it brings to the oppressive heat of summer, there’s a melancholy about it that must be acknowledged: the days are shorter and winter will come once more.
Spring, on the other hand, is a flagrant celebration of life’s renewal. Shouting “Oh joy!” with whatever means they have available, all living things seek simultaneously to reproduce.
It’s a bacchanalian carnival of color and scents. While we are dazzled by spring’s splendor, we respond somewhat less flamboyantly by launching our boat and spending stolen summer hours gloriously afloat.
If you have been working on your boat all winter, launch it now — ready or not — and go sailing.
Time’s a’wastin’. May is bustin’ out all over!
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
