Spring 2016

Spring arrived in Atlanta a half hour past midnight. The new season brought an end of two weeks of high temperatures in the 70's and 80's. So it's a bit topsy-turvy, I'm pleased to leave behind the Season of Ice even if the northeastern U.S. could get nailed with another snowstorm next week. 

No calendar in the western world has described the seasons better than the French Revolutionary Calendar used between 1793 and 1805. Unfortunately the calendar failed for a host of reasons, none of them related the appropriately descriptive days of the month. Instead of March 20, think of Germinal and her thirty days:

1. Primevere - Primrose

2. Plantane - Plane Tree

3. Asperge - Asparagus

4. Tulipe - Tulip

5. Poule - Hen

6. Bette - Chard Plant

7. Bouleau - Birch Tree

8. Jonquille - Daffodil

9. Aulne - Alder

10. Couvoir - Hatchery

11. Pervenche - Periwinkle

12. Charme - Hornbeam

13. Morille - Morel

14. Hetre - European Beech Tree

15. Abielle - Bee

16. Laitue - Lettuce

17. Meleze - Larch

18. Cigue - Hemlock

19. Radis - Radish

20. Ruche - Hive

21. Gainier - Judas Tree

22. Romaine - Lettuce

23 Marronnier - Horse chestnut

24. Roquette - Arugula or Rocket

25. Pigeon - Pigeon

26. Lilas - Lilac

27. Anemone - Anemone

28. Pensee - Pansy

29. Myrtille - Blueberry

30. Greffor - Knife

May your first day of spring be the harbinger of warm weather and wind in your sails.

Sources:

Photos and Illustrations:
Spring poem, Songs of Innocence, William Blake, 1789;
Allegory of Germinal, public domain, wikipedia.fr,French National Library and Bureau of Measures, Paris