The tulips, lilacs and flowers in Idaho and Utah remind me of a song my brother used to sing: “When it’s springtime in the Rockies, I’ll be coming back to you, little sweetheart of the mountains with your bonnie eyes so blue.” My sister and I would climb the pole fence around the corral and listen to our older brother sing to the cows as he milked them. It wasn’t until I was an adult that he explained, “I wasn’t singing to the cows. I was singing to you girls. It was boring milking the cows all by myself.”
We loved the funny songs my brother sang. Sometimes he sang different words to the familiar songs we knew. “When it’s springtime in Alaska and its forty-nine below, and the children go barefooted because they love the snow.”
Or: “My Bonnie lay over a gas tank. Its contents she wanted to see. She lit a small match to assist her. Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me.”
There were two other favorite songs.
“The cannibal king with the big nose ring fell in love with a dusty maid. And every night in the pale moonlight, across the lake he came. . . . “ Cannibal King with lyrics – YouTube
“Oh, I went to the Animal Fair. The birds and the beasts were there. The big baboon by the light of the moon was combing his auburn hair. .” The Animal Fair | Kids Song | HooplaKidz – YouTube
But I have wandered away from my original topic. Taking a trip down memory lane is like that. Sometimes you end up in unexpected places.
I love the spring when evergreens display new green on the tips of its branches. I see shoots of green emerge from the ground, grow taller and then the buds burst into bloom. Robins hop across the grass looking for worms or nesting materials. Birds sing in the trees and the world is fresh and new.
There is a feeling of spring in my heart as I emerge from our home where I have sheltered during the last year. I am free to shop, eat in restaurants, and visit friends. I travel from California to the Rocky Mountains. The gentle Idaho temperatures feel like spring.
When I get to Utah, the weather has transitioned to the warmth of summer. And I hope that I too will transition—that my words, my smile, or kind deeds may warm the heart of another.