Sunday, April 17, 2022

Franklin TV: Primavera Week

 by Pete Fasciano, Executive Director 04/17/2022


After all the groundhogs have weighed in around the country, how do we mark Spring? For some, the unofficial start is March 1st. Because, March! Then there are the vernal equilux and equinox. The equilux means ‘equal light’. Sunrise and sunset are observable some minutes sooner and later respectively due to atmospheric bending of the Sun’s light when it is still slightly below the horizon. It occurs a few days before the vernal equinox and a few days after the autumnal. Bonus light!

These are dates that can make us astro–geeks slightly giddy with anticipation of warmer days. Some Winters leave behind piles of snow, and we might hazard a pseudo–scientific guess as to when this last evidence will be gone. Proof of Spring.

Then there’s Primavera –
Per Merriam Webster - Definition of primavera
: served with a mixture of fresh vegetables (such as zucchini, snow peas, and broccoli) —usually used postpositively pasta primavera
Wrong! This Italian veggie ‘n’ pasta hot dish is merely a derivative interpretation.
I champion the term’s Latin origins as describing the first greening of Winter’s barren landscape. This is Spring’s annual (and primal) promise now coming to life. Last week? No buds. This week? Buds! Primavera has begun. The first buds are emerging, and in a scant few weeks the scene change will be complete. Trees and bushes everywhere from forests primeval to the naked shrub in your front yard are all waking up and getting off to a fresh start. It’s quietly dramatic. It’s a time not to be missed, but noted and savored. Even lawns are greening up under last Winter’s scattered detritus of dead branches and old leaves. Don’t miss Primavera 2022. Now showing on deciduous trees everywhere.

With Winter’s weary doldrums done beneath the rising arc of Sun green means, “ Go!” And, go we fore – our step and spirit, light once more.

Primavera. It’s nature’s annual do–over. It’s the very signature of Spring.

And – as always –
Thank you for listening to wfpr●fm. 
And, thank you for watching.

 

Get this week's program guide for Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) online  http://franklin.tv/programguide.pdf  


Franklin TV: Primavera Week
Franklin TV: Primavera Week

No comments:

Post a Comment