Redbuds, Dogwoods and Blackberries

I'm from the South.  I was born and raised in Nashville, TN, the buckle on the Bible belt.   I like my tea sweet, banana pudding with a huge meringue topping, meat and threes and cornbread dripping with butter or covered in gravy.

In Middle Tennessee, we have four distinct seasons.  We have snow in the winter.  Hot, hot, hot summers and colorful falls.  But our most beautiful season is when everything blooms in the spring.  And, when I say everything, I mean everything.  The first sign of spring is when the buttercups and tulips peak through the soil.   Warm, sunny days and lots of rain in the spring bring out the blossoms on the Bradford Pear trees - beautiful but stinky. 

But, alas, our warm weather will give way to a number of cold spells and short-lived winters, of sort, that will last two or three days.

We had rain yesterday and a cold front pushed through last night.  Our days of needing air-conditioning quickly turned to needing the heat this morning.  And, as we drove to church today, I saw the redbud trees in full bloom - our first mini-winter, Redbud Winter, has officially arrived in Middle Tennessee. 

Before the first of May, we will experience two more winters, one which will concur when the dogwood trees bloom near Easter and the third, Blackberry Winter, when the blackberry bushes bloom around the first of May.

It's good to live in the South with our redbud, dogwood and blackberry winters, slower way of talking and gentile way of life.  I wouldn't trade my upbringing here for anything.  And, I definitely wouldn't trade our Springtime to live anywhere else.