An early Spring graces Connecticut

Happy Earth Day! After a tough winter, we in Connecticut have been rewarded with an extra month of Spring this year. Everything has greened up at once. We gardeners are thrilled, although, we wonder what is going to be left to bloom. It's only April 22nd, and already we have seen the early rhododendrons, the azaleas, the tulips, the lilacs and even the trees in bloom. We are almost a month ahead of schedule. I don't remember an earlier Spring in the 25 years I have lived in Connecticut. No complaints here, other than lots of sneezing. We love nature's show.

I have been walking around my neighborhood of Whitneyville in Hamden the past hour, enjoying the weather and saying hello to people walking by. A group of Hamden High students is across the street from my office celebrating Earth Day. It reminds me of the first Earth Day, in which I participated, as a student at Wallkill High School in New York State. I was a freshman then (was it really 40 years ago?), and the messages were exhilarating and frightening at the same time. The main message then and now is, we need to be stewards of our planet. The lessons of that day never left me, which is what is so gratifying when I see students participating in Earth Day events.

I hope you enjoy the day. This is Lake Whitney, named after one of our favorite sons, Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin and assembly line manufacturing. He lived in the neighborhood, and his house still stands about one block away from the lake. Celebrate the beauty of your communities.