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MY WORD - 5/14/2008
(by Holly Stewart - OpEd Columnist - May 14, 2008)
Very verdant and vernal
All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green.
—GOETHE
The wait is over, and all the New Jersey outdoors is once again resplendent in every shade of green imaginable. Few times of year are as beautiful here as May, and no other is as eagerly awaited by the local population. Our climate often makes us suffer through weeks of interminable rainy cool before spring kicks in full bore just in time for Memorial Day weekend. This is our moment of simple temperature-related joy, when neighbors greet each other with broad smiles and open arms, as if to say, “How did we ever survive the winter?” and “Don’t we deserve this exquisite day after enduring the past six months?”
Visual contrast clinches the deal. One has only to consider the appearance of his own backyard in late March and compare it to the way it looks today. The leaves have waited patiently on the ends of their branches until they become large and strong enough to unfurl. The grass, once sufficiently watered, takes over its usual haunts, and wildflowers, moss and weeks fill in everywhere else. Almost overnight the entire landscape turns from bland shades of brown and tan to a glistening bright yellow-green, thanks to the return of the foliage.
For many of us, this immediately means more privacy as the trees fill out and the empty spaces between properties turn abundant with vegetation. There’s nothing like the sudden absence of a neighbor’s ugly rusty shed from the field of vision to lift one’s spirits and offer a new perspective. The barrenness of winter and everything it might have exposed fall quickly into memory and are promptly replaced by the softness of so much new organic material to fill the senses. Out of sight, out of mind definitely applies in suburbia.
It’s a well-established fact that different colors affect human psychology. Green is believed to make most people feel calm and optimistic. It is considered the most restful color to the eye, probably because there is so much of it in nature. Beware, however, that most experts believe that too much exposure to green hues leads to burnout; the sufferer may experience laziness or mild depression from an overwhelming abundance of verdant tones. Perhaps that’s why Pop wants to spend that Saturday afternoon in June sleeping in his hammock after cutting the grass. He’s greened-out.
There’s much to be said for living in a temperate climate zone. The changing of the seasons gives us balance and allows us to anticipate the passing of time and whatever it entails. It keeps us constantly thinking ahead. Right now my thoughts are of fishing and planting vegetables; by October they will turn to stockpiling wood for the stove.
My relations in Arizona may have the market cornered on dry air and being able to pluck fruit from their citrus trees through December, but they are seriously lacking in the seasons department, as they have only two such real designations in that region: Hot and hotter. Hotter is May through August and just plain hot is everything else. Although I greatly enjoy visiting them for a week at a time, I believe I would grow weary of their primarily brown landscape very quickly and the fact that most of the leaves don’t turn color and fall off later in the year. I seem to need the change in seasons and would miss it terribly after living my entire life within those parameters.
Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself with such projections. Today there is only the greenery of spring on which to feast my eyes. The warmth of the sun and the cool glow of the plants create a kind of photosynthesis for the soul, and I can feel myself turning green from the inside out. And contrary to what Kermit the Frog used to say, it is easy being green, at least for now.
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