In Which It’s Looking Green For A Half-Irish Biker

My commuting bike Francis, parked this morning by Regina Hall on green, green grass.

The eve of St. Patrick’s Day, 2016: I attended an out-of-town funeral yesterday, so no ride then, but given the morning rain and evening storms, it seemed like a dicey day for a ride anyway.

Following the thunderstorms that rumbled through last evening, we’re having a super windy day, a howling gale from the west. It is lucky that my morning ride is mostly south, so the winds tried to knock me down now and then, but there were only brief parts of the commute where I had to face into the wind.

And the commute is changing. You see a few shades of color in the trees as buds swell and maples bloom, but trees are mostly asleep still.

The brown March ground, however, is changing rapidly as grass starts to put on its lush green spring colors—just in time for the day before St. Patrick’s Day, which warms the heart of this half-Irish bicycle commuter.

I parked Francis on the “other” end of campus because I was giving a morning exam in the library. But, as I walked across the sidewalk that I would normally bike on, I stopped. I’m sure if I had been biking, I would have stopped, too.

First flower I've seen blooming at MMU. I have crocus in my gardens already, but it's nice to see this one on campus.

 The first flower, a pretty little early iris (or crocus that looks like an iris) is in bloom on central campus. It’s not the first flower I’ve seen—there were daffodils already south of here that I saw Tuesday during my trip, and the first crocus in my garden bloomed last week—but I always think of this Mustang-colored flower (blue and yellow) as being the MMU official herald of spring.

It’s green. There are flowers. Despite the wind, that’s all the more reason to get on your bike and ride.

Another flower view at MMU.