That’s right. You heard me... yesterday, December 22nd was the first day of the spring!

Says who? Says Joe Soucheray, Grand Poobah of The Royal Order of the 21sters.

Who are they? We are a group of people who have willing surrendered normalcy so as to engage in psychological delusion to stave off the the darkness and chill of winter that affects you normal people.

To quote Joe on Sunday:

We are not astronomers, climatologists or meteorologists. None of the scientific disciplines for us. We are conjurers. We make winter disappear.

Yes, yes, very well, we assign the two dark months, November and December, to winter, but they are the two months filled with feasts and twinkling lights.

Spring can last as long as a 21ster wishes it to last. Personally, because the NFL has pushed the Super Bowl into February, I usually start my summer on Super Bowl Sunday, by which time we will have gained at least an hour of light over today.

Summer will feature some tough days, last April attesting, but we endure. Our dobbers are a bit down June 21, but then we buck up with the cheery realization that autumn will be long, lingering and often warm and humid.

Why, by the time tomorrow rolls around, we are over the hump. We have had our two months of winter just as the Normal People are starting to feel the oppressive weight of the washed-out landscape, the arthritic creak of their own bones.

Not us. Our arms linked, our mugs sloshing, we dance and dance our cares away. To want to be a member is to be a member. You are in if you choose to admit it: You are not normal.

In celebration of the start of spring (and the less than favorable plow-to-person ratio ( (c) 2008 Brendan Grant) of the area), I opted to walk the 3 miles to work yesterday (granted I try to do that 2x a week), and along the way took some photos for those who have yet to venture out (of which I know there are plenty):

(Click for larger images on Flickr)

Starting off, hardly plowed and not at all shoveled:

Almost every manhole cover appeared this way:

The ‘farmhouse’ next to RedWest:

Overlooking 520 while on the 40th street bridge:

Continuing along the 40th street bridge:

Unused shuttle after shuttle:

Between buildings 44 & 43, there had to be a solid foot of snow on the bench:

From the third floor of building 43, looking out towards building 42:

What happens when you don’t shovel the sidewalk before it gets trampled... ice:

Read the complete post at http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IHateLinux/~3/493414110/redmond-on-first-day-of-spring.html