Summer is on the way...from Arizona

Yes, it seems like winter is here to stay. People are still skiing on North Shore ski trails. Dry, fresh snow just fell on Sawbill Lake. But I can tell you, summer is happening, only it's a thousand miles away.

I just got back from a week in Arizona, in a little town north of Phoenix. We did some hiking and some hanging out by the pool. Temps were in the high 80s every day. The cacti were blooming like wild. The ocotillo plant, normally a dried-up stick of a shrub, was covered in green leaves and blooming a flush of orange-red flowers.

The biggest blooms were on the saguaro. Saguaro are those super-tall cacti with the arms sticking out and up. They define the Sonoran Desert sort of like how the white pine define the North Woods. 

So North Shore folks who have had bit too much winter, take heart. The seasons are changing; the earth is tilting toward the sun. The maple woods will fill with spring beauty. The loons will return to our lakes. Sometime before August, you'll actually feel hot.  

Summer is on the way.