March Weather Savage and Serene

We enter the month of March, that which draws us into spring. Poets had great emotions on the subject of March: December days were brief and chill, The winds of March were wild and drear, And, nearing and receding still, Spring never would, we thought, be here. ~Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861) It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens (1812–1870), Great Expectations These, marching softly, thus in order went, And after them, the Months all riding came; First, sturdy March, with Brows full sternly bent, And armed strongly, rode upon a Ram, The same which over Hellespontus swam: Yet in his Hand a Spade he also hent, And in a Bag all sorts of Seeds ysame, Which on the Earth he strowed as he went, And fill'd her Womb with fruitful Hope of Nourishment. ~Edmund Spenser, The Fairy-Queen, 1590s Today's pictures are "Blowing Off Steam" images from the Sandy River and Rangely Lakes Railroad trip in Maine last year.