ahhh...spring

Then spring descended all of a sudden. Aspen catkins flew in the air, so thick that when walking on the street you could breathe them in and you would flick your hand to keep them away from your face. The scent of lilac blooms was pungent and intoxicating. Yet old people still wrapped themselves in fur or cotton-padded clothes. The dark earth, vast and loamy, marked by tufts of yellow grass here and there, began emitting a warm vapor that flickered like purple smoke in the sunshine. All at once apricot and peach trees broke into blossom, which grew puffy as bees kept touching them.

from Ha Jin's Waiting

I can't wait for spring to come. I've had it with the "near-Arctic" temperatures. Harumph.