Springtime in Atlanta

Springtime in Atlanta arrives in clumps of pink and white.

The cherry trees, with their pink blossoms, bloom first.  They are closely followed by the yellow of the daffodils and the forsythia bushes.

This is the time of year when winter and spring commence their annual dance, fighting over which season will dominate.  First spring pokes up a tentative head, usually with the cherry trees and the daffodils.  Winter roars back with dropping temperatures and the occasional attacks of frost and maybe a snowflake or two, enough to send metro Atlanta into panic.

Then winter dies down, and spring again pokes up its head.  It adds the white blossoms of the Bradford pear trees, followed a little while later by the lavender of the wisteria.

At this point, winter has a choice to make.  Does it make one last stand, or does it wave the white flag of surrender?

Sometimes, winter fights back.  I remember one week at the beginning of April when I thought the white stuff in the air was white blossoms from the Bradford pears.  It wasn't until I got out of the car and saw the "blossoms" melting on my coat that I realized they were snowflakes.

Eventually, though, winter must wave the flag of surrender.  Spring marches in, in shades of pink and yellow, lavender and white.  It's also accompanied by the greenish-yellow of pine pollen, which drives Atlantans to the car washes, to wash the pollen into the storm drains; to the drug stores, to buy decongestants by the boxful; and in some cases, to the doctor's office, where allergy medicines are prescribed.  The daily pollen count becomes a temporary staple of the weather report, along with WSB's Kirk Mellish's recitation of the pollen sources: "oak, cedar, grass, pine, ketchup, and mustard".

Such is the changing of the seasons in Atlanta, Georgia.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.