Spring Has Sprung!

"Spring, Sprung, Spring!" sang the frog.
"Spring!" said the groundhog.
"Spring, Spring, Spring!" sang the robin.
It was Spring.
The leaves burst out.
The flowers burst out.
And robins burst out of their eggs.
It was Spring.
In the Spring a bunny came down the road...

~ From one of my favorite children's books, Home For A Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown
(also author of Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny)

It is a beautiful day outside! 66° and sunny! Sly and I are wearing short sleeves, and got to sit on the front porch for lunch. It is ABOUT TIME. Really, I'm very glad I live in a part of the country that has real winters with real snow. But after months of cold and dreariness, it's so wonderful to get warm weather again!

And I convinced Tom to take me contra dancing tonight!! I haven't been since...I was about four months pregnant. So I am very excited. For those who haven't heard of it, it's basically a type of folk dance where you have a partner and dance in two opposing lines. You do a lot of similar moves as in square dancing (swings, do-si-dos, etc.), but they each have their own contra style to them. There is a caller as well, telling you what to do. Each dance has a set, repeating pattern. Perhaps twelve different moves that repeat over and over (so after several times through, the caller just drops out, and you are expected to have it memorized!). And the music is great - fold music with fiddles, guitars, hammer dulcimers, and the like. Basically, contra dancing is lots of turning and swirling, and grabbing people's hands, and "giving" just the right amount of weight to keep the whole thing in motion.

And a perfect reason to wear your twirliest skirts!

Contra dancing is extraordinary amounts of fun. Tom doesn't completely agree, so it took lots of begging to get him to agree to come tonight. But he finally did! And a friend offered us free babysitting to boot!