To Paint The Laughing Soil

The crocus have bloomed and gone.
(Click picture for larger view)

"Spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil."
~ Reginald Heber

All winter the grass is brown, the trees bare, and often the skies gray. We rely on small patches of color....a cardinal here and there, the blue patch on a female mallard wing, ever present pansies and purple ornamental cabbage... and of course, the Christmas lights. But during the coldest months of January and February, even these are too scattered and far between. Then in March, after the many "two steps forward, one step back" of fluctuating temperatures, it seems to sneak up on you and yet, bursts on the scene like an explosion. Spring! Daffodils, forsythia, dogwood, tulips, cherry trees, Bradford pear, redbud and of course those tiny harbingers of spring; small, almost an afterthought but often first... the crocus. Royalty in purple, sunshine in yellow, a clown in stripes... they come and go too soon. And Spring goes on.

Submission for Tuesday Challenge topic "spring". (end of post)