Escape from March

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: This past week I was staying at my sister Barb’s house in the DC area. She and her husband are celebrating their 25th anniversary and a landmark birthday with a trip to Greece (which also doubles as a visit with their youngest son, a student at the University of Athens.) They have three, shall we say, unique dogs with unusual temperaments and needs, and they asked if I could dog- and house-sit while they were away.

I was happy to, because my sister is the bomb-diggity and it’s nice to be able to do something sweet for her. But also, like many folks residing in northern climes, I LOVE getting out of Maine in March.

March is the WORST month in the northeast, bar none. At this point, we are all just so damn tired of winter. So. Damn. Tired. Yes, temperatures are trending upward. (It hit 40F/5C yesterday, woo hoo!) Yes, the snow is melting, turning everything not covered in stone or asphalt into a mucky mire. No, I don’t have to leave the water trickling overnight like I did in January and February.

But it’s been  almost three months since Christmas. The excitement from seeing beautiful snow flakes falling has become an existential dread. The once-new woolly sweaters and boots feel like penitential garb. Sitting close to the woodstove has gone from cozy to claustrophobic.

Kingsley doesn't like March either

And as the snow slowly, slowly melts, the revealed landscape is all brown and gray - dirt scraped up from the road, dead grass, sodden trees. We still have two more weeks before the earliest colors - our ubiquitous forsythia. A good month before the daffodils and narcissus.

Meanwhile, in Alexandria, it’s in the fifties, and the sun is shining. The grass is greening, and the daffodils and visible in people’s gardens. The flowering trees and shrubs that make the DC area such a wonderland in spring aren’t in blossom yet, but the signs of life are everywhere. I wear sneakers while walking her (weird little) dogs. Sneakers! I haven’t worn anything except boots or slippers in four months. I go coatless on the morning walk - although admittedly, this is me being a Maine resident for most of my life. Everyone else I see walking their dogs has at least a windbreaker on.

So it’s been great getting away for week. Just that small taste of spring gives me the strength to carry on through mud season. How about you, dear readers? What’s the worst month where you live, and how to you power through it?

The More Things Change

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Happy Spring!  Happy Passover! Happy Easter!   All the first white tulips are out in our garden--and for maybe the tenth year in a row, the ducks have returned to visit our back yard pool. It's always so reassuring to see them. And all of it is such a nice reminder that some things stay the same as other things change.

So, things that are the same this spring: It's time for my winter coat to go to the dry cleaners. I can open the windows--and see they need to be washed. I think--is it time for bare legs? And I've already had my first iced latte!

Things that are different: My new book comes out in September..it's the lead title in the publishers fall catalog!. (Last spring at this time? I had NO idea any of this would happen. Hmm.)  I'm wondering if there's something I should be doing.  I'm 64,311 words into the new book. And I'm hoping I'm on track. (That's not different, I guess. That's a constant.)

What's the same with you this spring? What's different?

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: One of the sweetest things about spring is how, even if everything in my life is the same as it was last year, it all feels fresh and new. Hanging the wash outside, listening to the songbirds in the morning, enjoying the daffodils and forsythia. What's different this year? Well, I have a junior in high school, so this spring means college trips, SAT prep, and the Prom! Will I post pictures? You bet.

HALLIE EPHRON: So I want to see the prom picture... and hear whether you go shopping with her for the dress. That was always my favorite thing about proms - finding The Dress.

Same here: Tulips in the dining room. Forsythia in the yard. Trying to figure out how to discourage a family of sparrows from nesting in the gutter over my back door. Considering changing my stance on gun control. Also already the grass already needs to be mowed. In my family that's "men's work" which all I can do is nag unless I want to do it myself. Which I do not.

What's new: Just turned in my book and I got a thumbs-up from my editor within a day; now I'm waiting for comments so I can start on the revision. I love revision but already the spectre of what to write about next is haunting me.

(HANK: And can you believe you're even THINKING about it?)

RHYS BOWEN: Of course I cheat a little with the spring thing. I've just come  back from Arizona where it has been spring for a while. But my California garden is in full flower (only what the deer won't eat) and the Pride of Madeira candles are just about to come into bloom But my son Dominic is growing veggies in big plastic tubs this year and it's fun to open the lids every morning and see how much they have grown during the night.

What's new for me? I am only a few pages from the end of my next Molly book. I have to finish it before I go to Malice at the end of the month where I will be interviewing Lee Goldberg (a truly brave undertaking!)

JAN BROGAN - My kids are home for Easter, that's what's new and wonderful here. The daffodils bloomed earlier than usual and my house is insanely clean, even my desktop and bulletin boards. I am working a lot in journalism, with a regular gig at the The Boston Globe, and am fifty pages into my historical. Just late last week - with the help of my writing buddy Barbara - figured out how and where all three stories within the story will mesh and mirror.  What a relief!

LUCY BURDETTE: We've been in Key West as spring sprung, where I think the changes in season are much more subtle than up north. They do have the most amazing flowers--one we marvel at is bright pink and looks like an azalea blossom on steroids or a miniature pom-pom. On the down side, they endure the spring break crowd for the middle two weeks of March, when Duval Street and the beaches fill up with sun-deprived, beer-drinking kids. Not necessarily something to look forward to, though happily, the city made it through this year without any major calamities...

Hank, can't tell you excited I am to read THE OTHER WOMAN!!

HANK: Awww. Thank you. It’s a nerve-wracking time. But it shouldn’t be, I know. Very exciting! And oh, the winner of the ARC of THE OTHER WOMAN from Thursday (chosen at random by Jonathan) is: Storyteller Mary! (Mary, contact me, okay? And I’ll send it when I’m allowed to!)

DEBORAH CROMBIE: This time last year I wished I was in England, as I do this year.  But on the upside, I'm enjoying spring at home in Texas.  We've had lots of much-needed rain (although we could have done without the tornadoes), the garden is lush and emerald green and the roses are blooming like crazy.  Looking forward to friends and family coming over for Easter brunch tomorrow, although I wish I could say my house was as clean as Jan's!

I wish I could say I'd finished my book, but I've made great progress the last few weeks, so here's crossing fingers.

HANK: So how about you. dear Reds readers? What's the same--and what's different this spring?