Ahh...spring.

When I moved to Birmingham, AL in 1994 (I know!! I can't believe it was that long ago either!), one of the things I was amazed to discover was that--gasp--B'ham had 4 actual seasons. Holy crap! That whole "spring/summer/winter/fall" thing I'd been hearing about during my entire life spent in Texas was actually true!! I couldn't believe it. It's sort of like finding out there are actually "Martians" living on Mars. But not really.

What I DID discover was:

The autumns were long and colorful.

The winters really were cold and had ice and snow and shit. (Which, of course, was still rare enough to hold that "Snow Day!" charm. And as we all know, "snow day charm" totally rules.)

The springs were glorious and lingered for months, punctuated with mad dogwoods, commandeering the forests and roadside medians. (Yeah, I went all "romance novel" on you bitches. But really...it was gorgeous.)

The summers were warm, but not horrible. Totally bearable, but definitely noticable.

Then I moved to Chicago in the autumn of 1997, and I discovered that the winters (and the gloom that accompanied them) started in October and lasted until late April. Roughly 6 fucking months, people. And the remaining 6 months of the year? Springsummerfall. Although they were short they were enjoyable. However, the dominance of winter did not make me happy.

So I moved back to Austin in October, 1999. And the first September I was here, we broke a Labor Day weekend record that still holds: 110, 112, and finally 114 degrees in a ten-day stretch during which every day topped out over three digits. Clearly, I was back in the land that was the mirror image of Chicago, with 6 months of summer, and then fallwinterspring all quick and shit.

Not so, this spring.

I'm happy to report that our spring has actually been wet and green and cool and filled with wildflowers and epic Texas storms. In short, absolutely lovely and authentic. It's actually been "spring."

Which brings me to this...

Strawberry perfection. (Which would make a great nail polish color/stripper name, by the way.)

I bought a carton of strawberries a few days ago at Whole Foods, and today when I was cutting some up for The Geej, I discovered this gem. How amazingly perfect is it? Wow. The shape, the color, the ripeness. This is spring in fruit form.

A springtime trip to the farm:

Thanks to Jaye and her alert attention to The Chronicle, she prompted us to go to Pure Luck Farms today to, you know, pet baby goats. Other than the fact that Jaye and I TOTALLY looked like the principal cast members of "The Geej has Two Mommies" (not that there's anything wrong with that), we had a nice time.

Of course there were goat babies to be fed and petted.

Then there were adult goats (also known as "Big Goats" to industry insiders) to be admired.

All I've got to say about this is, if there are actually any heterosexual males who read this blog on a regular basis (which I kind of doubt), you guys should HOPE to come back in another life as a Pure Luck Farms buck. Dude!! 20 females to 1 male. Your only job? Eat, stay healthy, and have sex while living in an idyllic setting surrounded by people who care for you and WANT you to impregnate as many females as possible.

I'm just saying, seems like a pretty sweet deal to me.

Oh. Where was I before I got distracted with goat reincarnation/sex? Oh yes...

We also petted goats with twins on board that needed to be sympathized with. (Bless her heart. She's all kinds of knocked up with twins and just lying there praying for labor while the other not-so-pregnant goats are frolicking about.)

And of course we petted any farm cats (and dogs) that showed up. (Sorry, no photos of "Lucy" and "Queso" the farm dogs, but trust me, they were cute).

And there were gorgeous horses to be ogled.

And electric fences to be shocked by. (Sorry, Jaye.)

And later, at lunch (The Geej loves "Aunt Jaye," can't you tell?)we bonded with a four-letter word spouting bird to be admired.

We like spring is all I'm sayin'.

More, please!!