Greening

Every year in Minneapolis there is a brief period, called The Greening, when winter turns to spring. It’s quick. It starts in late April—very late April—with the first delicate buds at the tips of branches. Then on May 15 you wake up and know that it’s all over: the world is green.

The true beauty of The Greening, for me, is revealed in the in-between stages, when the branches are still stark against the sky, but enveloped in a halo of bright green, definite yet still subtle.