Spring is HERE!!!

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By Diane Forrest

After consulting the famed Puxatawny Phil, springing forward, doing some spring cleaning, getting a little spring fever, and even taking a spring break, the day has finally arrived.  Today is officially the first day of spring.

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I am sure you have noticed budding flowers, growing grass, leaves appearing on the trees, and if your town is anything like mine, everything is covered with a yellow dusting of pollen.  There is new life all around.  Birds are chirping. .bees are buzzing, the sun stays out longer, and the temperature is just right.

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While Spring is my favorite time of year, there are a few drawbacks.  This is also the time for thunderstorms, flash floods and tornados, at least in my area.

In technical terms, today is the beginning of the vernal equinox.  On the vernal equinox, day and night are nearly identical in length -- 12 hours each -- at the equatorial plane.

An equinox occurs twice a year, in March and September, when the center of the Sun crosses directly over the Earth's equator, as the Earth is tilted neither away nor toward the Sun. Many cultures around the world celebrate the equinoxes as special occasions.

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Spring is a very important time in my town.  We have a Spring Pilgrimage.  This is the time when people travel here from all over the world to tour our antebellum homes.  Ladies dress up in hoop skirts, horse drawn buggies are available to take visitors on tours, the town's people spend weeks sprucing up everything, putting fresh paint where it is needed, and planting beautiful gardens.  At night the residents put on a pageant for the visitors that depict life on the Mississippi.  For more information about the Natchez Spring Pilgrimage, click here:  http://www.natchezpilgrimage.com/

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So today, the first day of spring, go outside...shake off the winter blues if you are able, and enjoy the new fresh day.