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The rain last week was welcomed by all of us who like to watch things grow. There's a patch of grass growing beside a creek where I live that is the brightest neon green I've ever seen. Whether you call it apple green, lime green or chartreuse, it shouts that spring officially started Tuesday, March 20, the vernal equinox.

We have finally received some rain now that it is spring. It may be late in the season, but fish are happy to have water.

I walked through an Asian-inspired bamboo gate and entered another world: the world of bonsai. Some trees were blooming, others just leafing out, and some had trunks thick and gnarled, as if they'd been alive 200 years — and they had.

I begin thinking about my Irish papa, Patrick James, about this time each year.