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Well, this picture lies, I admit it. Down here in the desert the sweetness that is the desert Spring is far more advanced than this photo, taken in early March.

The trees are in full summery leaf, and much of desert plant life is busy ensuring its survival, renewal, and offspring. Which is just to say there's a lot of blooming going on.

And with, or without, bloom one of the surprises to a "ferriner" coming into high desert life is the incredible sweetness of all plant life here.

Sweetness everywhere! As in, even standing waiting for my sweetie in a Walmart parking lot (I know, I know, but their bubble envelopes for my book sales are the cheapest by far) I was almost overcome by the outrageous glorious sweetness of the yellow blooming desert bushes that marked off the parking rows.

And as for taking a "stroll" on my mobility scooter around the neighborhood, well, it's a natural gentle perfume store, and we're all sere desert landscapers here, none of that water-expensive grass nonsense for us. And still, and still, incredible sweetness. Some days it sure pays to notice where you are.

Spring is different here

Oh you who long for the daffodils to bloom, and the lilacs to begin to show themselves - harken to Spring in the desert.

Our daffodils are a mid February event, our trees are already leaving behind the last traces of that wonderful chartreuse early leafing and are entering the full green of summer.

And, the Spring winds have come.

Signs along the highways read "Dust Storms Possible, Next 10 Miles". Most of the year that only makes the tourists take their foot off the accelerator for a minute - we locals know it's unlikely to occur.

But Springtime, well, Springtime in the desert is different. Then the winds whip up, 30 or 50 miles an hour, the air is filled with fine dust, and we can hardly see the mountains which normally fill our distant skies.

Above are the Organ Mountains, from our front window (my quilting room), as they usually appear. Today, and for the rest of this week, they will be instead the vaguest purple shadow behind the white dust-filled sky.

But the sweetness of all the desert life (desert plants must want company - they always seem to have the most delicate of perfumes about them) will remain in the air. Happy Spring!