Welcome sweet springtime

“Welcome sweet springtime, we greet thee in song—murmurs of gladness fall on the ear. Voices long hushed now their full notes prolong, Echoing far and near.”

Anyone who claims to be a fan of “The Andy Griffith Show” would readily recognize these words. They are the opening lines of the song, Voices of the Woods. The Mayberry choir practiced this song for many hours, preparing for their annual concert. So it isn’t surprising that whenever we get to April, the words to this song always run through my mind.

April has always been one of my favorite months. April is known for the start of warmer weather, April showers, beautiful spring flowers, and of course, the Easter Bunny’s arrival this year. And for me, it means getting my two classic cars out of winter storage. Speaking of classic cars, on April 17, 1964, Ford unveiled their first Mustang, costing $2,368.

But did you know that April is a great month for watching meteor showers? Every April from the 16th to the 26th, the Lyrids meteor shower appears. The famous Eta Aquarids shower also appears beginning around April 21. April is also when many of our animal friends become more active. Smaller animals hibernating for the Northern Hemisphere winter start coming out of their winter burrows in April. My favorite animal activity is watching the geese migrate back to their summer habitat. I begin to get my summer birdhouses and feeders all ready for our many summer birds.

This year Easter is on April 17. The earliest possible date for Easter is March 22, and the latest possible day for Easter is April 25. The weeks and days leading up to Easter are some of my favorite of the year. I enjoy the quiet, reflective Lenten church services during the six weeks preceding Easter Sunday. Then comes the beautiful Easter Sunday celebration with all its pageantry and color.

The last stanza of Voices of the Woods goes as follows. “Sing then, ye birds, raise your voices on high. Flowers awake ye, burst into bloom. For springtime has come, and sweet summer is nigh. Sing then, ye birds, O sing.”

I am sure that the good folks of Mayberry look forward to spring each year. However, they do not experience Wisconsin’s long, cold, dark winters. So I have a feeling that we just might appreciate spring a bit more than our Mayberry friends do.

Ken Anderson, the “Mayberry Guru,” can be reached at themayberryguru@gmail.com and www.themayberryguru.com.

BE OUR

G UEST

KEN ANDERSON “THE MAYBERRY GURU”