Spring fever is rampant in Vermont today. 80 degrees is the forecast. We all know it’s too soon for summer to actually have arrived, but it sure gets us all excited for the next season coming around the corner. We have a guest this weekend who heard the forecast, threw her bicycle in the car and drove up for a couple of days.

Now, here’s the thing, it’s a funny season in Vermont. Not a big tourist time of the year. Traditionally we call it ‘mud season’. But here’s what she noticed yesterday; there’s nobody else around. Plenty of time to chat in the bike shop. She’ll have the park on Lake Champlain practically to herself this afternoon. She feels like she’s never been here and just seen people living their lives, it’s always been times when there are tourists everywhere and a general feeling of vacation. Spring is a working time of the year, and there is some pretty hard work to be done up here. But, if you’re not the one doing it, it might not be a bad thing to come and see. Gardens aren’t perfect yet, though buds have arrive (and I just found my very first purple crocus in front of the Inn), fields are being tilled, lambs are being born. But she’s right, Vermont is full of people who live here, outside soaking in the sun, doing chores and preparing for the next season.

Spring is that hopeful, anticipatory season everywhere and it always seems to burst upon us in one sudden weekend. But, in reality, if you look closely, little signs are everywhere, and spending some time slowing down and looking for those signs might not be a bad way to spend a couple of days.