This headline deserves an asterisk, because, my friends, we all know that Spring doesn’t officially arrive until March 20^th.

So, I guess I am circulating “fake news” … that’s okay, because it sure feels like Spring has arrived here in Southeast Michigan.

It turned out to be a day to ditch the hat and gloves and unzip or unbutton your coat and breathe in deeply.

However, while it may be 68 degrees right now as I am typing this post, this morning when I left on my walk, a stiff breeze was blowing and there was a chill in the air – it was only 45 degrees then.

I headed down to Council Point Park where I joined many fellow walkers and joggers who wanted to spend their morning enjoying that venue, just like me. Though I took the camera, intending to get some current Park photos, I never took it out of the case since the landscape is still drab and dowdy looking.  Even the squirrels seemed to blend right into the scenery, except, of course, when they spied me along the trail, or, I shook a bag of peanuts in their direction.  They soon came running over.  Yes, I’m a quick study, and noticed early on that shaking the clear bag filled with peanuts had a similar effect to Hop Sing, the Ponderosa’s Chinese cook, ringing the dinner triangle to announce to the Cartwrights that the meal was ready.  (Of course, if you never watched the T.V. series “Bonanza” you might wonder about this analogy.)

The Ecorse Creek had a light skim of ice in places and its banks and shoreline were full of dried-up reeds. The ducks and geese did not seem to mind their surroundings, however, and the waterfowl were plentiful as I walked parallel to the Creek.

I stood out on the ledge, what I used to refer to as “Duck Landing”, and watched the mallards and geese gracefully paddling along. Every so often, the camaraderie would end abruptly, when one of them would rile up his brethren and a lot of quacking or honking ensued, then soon it was quiet and peaceful again.

As I walked along in silence, I was aware of the wind as it swooshed through the trees causing the brittle leaves that still remained on the bare branches to make a crackling sound. Likewise, a few dozen lightweight plastic bags were slung from bushes and branches and the wind rustled through them as I walked by.

I look forward to that first day when the Park seems to comes alive … the grass suddenly will be a brilliant green color and dotted with dandelions, and the goslings will toddle after their parents. That is when the camera will get some serious action.

In the meantime, I think that just a few more days of this mild weather will have the trees and perennials very confused. Buds will suddenly appear and green sprouts will surface in still-frozen garden beds.

We humans can simply don another layer to protect us, but they will be susceptible to the wiles of Mother Nature.