Spring has sprung. It came in as part of a package that hasn't been seen for a long time and in ways won't be repeated for many years.

Time change, St. Patrick's Day, the vernal equinox, Good Friday, Easter. It all seemed to go down so early this year.

The reasons are complicated, but the bottom line is that, for me, the snow has to melt a great deal more before I get true spring fever.

Nonetheless, I do have some springtime observations.

Two weeks ago, our son Rodney called to say his yard on Maple Street in Morrisonville was full of robins.

As much as we feed birds here on the Saranac riverbank, nary a robin has landed on our lawn. I'll be thrilled when the first great blue heron flies low, up the Saranac past our house.

CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE

I pulled into the Crete Center on Lake Champlain on March 15 and heard the honking of geese overhead. To look up and see that huge "V" heading north was a real thrill.

It started before that with the new-this-year "spring ahead" change of the clocks to Daylight Saving (not "savings") Time on March 9 rather than in April. The index finger of my favored left hand got lots of exercise moving the hands of my many clocks.

Some St. Patrick's Day celebrations took place on Saturday, March 15, rather than on this past Monday. There were those who felt as though they shouldn't carouse during Holy Week. Our traditional and delicious Irish dinner of corned beef and cabbage took place Saturday with friends at Diane and Kenny Leavine's home in Plattsburgh.

Suddenly, it seemed, Palm Sunday was here, and we left St. Alexander's Church with our frond early on the morning of the 16th.

Just one day later, I donned my green tie and jacket and attended the annual St. Patrick's Day breakfast on the Plattsburgh State campus. I was thrilled when Gordon Hazel was named Irishman of the Year. There is no one more deserving.

Then came the calendar arrival of spring March 20 and Easter Sunday today. Whew. Technically, spring arrived on March 19 for folks in the western United States due to the vernal equinox at 10:49 p.m. Pacific Time (5:48 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time) on that date. Can you believe our friends in Southern California beat us this year?

EARLY EASTER