I love spring. I love the change in the sunlight in the morning. I love the emergence of color through the variety of bulbs and buds. I love the endless possibilities that each day brings. And I love that spring is only here for three months because as much as I look forward to spring, I also look forward to summer when that time arises.

Spring seems to be the time of year for online posts of people sharing their spring favorites: clothing, trips, garden flowers, interior decor, exterior paint colors, meals, outdoor projects, etc. Google “spring favorites” and you will find over 269 Million results. You name it and someone, somewhere on-line has listed the top five or ten or three items in any category. What I like about those lists are that they are the epitome of spring: each list has possibilities and challenges. In essence, five or ten or three items of hope.

What would your spring favorite list look like? Would you have many or a few items? Are there things that bring a smile to your face? Items that only emerge in the spring and are short-lived? Does it include favorite things to do or things that you have always wanted to do in the spring? Is there a theme running through your listed items?

Here is my partial spring favorite list (I could go on and on…) As I started writing items down, I realized that most of my favorite things take place outdoors and in nature. There is something about the cycle of nature and its effects on us and our psyche especially after being “cooped up” inside over the cold winter months, that draws me outside this time of year.

1. Sighting Buttercups- One of my favorite flowers. Forgotten weeds along the highways and by-ways. I have a soft spot in my heart for the “underdog” even in the plant world.

2. Emerging bright green clumpy “onion” grass- No one wants a lawn of these clumps and eventually they will be physically removed with a mower or chemically destroyed. But at first, they have their day because they are the first to emerge, grow and produce any type of verdant green.

3. Calling birds- The cacophony of calling birds sound like long lost friends catching up over spring break. What I especially find delightful- the birds may be chirping it up, multiples of them on branches on the hedges by the sidewalk, yet as soon as I walk by, the chirps stop dramatically as if a major bird conductor cued them with his baton. Then as soon as I walk a safe distance past, the chirping continues as before like an orchestrated rest in a symphony of bird song.

4. Anticipating a new outdoor tennis season- Each year I think, “This is the one. This is the season when I will improve my serve, watch the ball at all times, and improve my game.” ( In reality, by the end of the season I will have left “room for improvement” for next season…)

5. Mulching the garden beds: There is satisfaction in spreading mulch among the garden beds. Mulch covers a multitude of gardening “sins”. Mulch is the finishing touch on beds: it sets off the plants and defines the edge of the garden and lawn. There is something aesthetically pleasing to see the deep brown of piled mulch around emerging clumps of flowers and shrubs. Even the vinegary smell of the mulch reminds me of spring and gardening possibilities.

6. Dining al fresco - Usually the first night after the first warm day of washing and scrubbing the porch and deck furniture. It is with a collective, “ahhh…” that we sit down to dine.

7. Swarming gnats- A walk to the outside shed and I am in the middle of swarming black dots. One day they are not around and then the next, Voila- they are there. Makes me wonder where they have been these last four months? How did they know that, at this moment, they need to emerge and begin their reign of terror? I may complain about the swarms in a couple of weeks, but for now they are a great reminder of warmer weather to come.

What about you? What’s on your list?