Time for the snowflakes to come down

Suddenly, the signs of spring are everywhere. Ok, not everywhere, but much of the snow has melted. There are no tulips peeking out of the ground yet, but at least we see some brown grass. Certainly a lot more lawn is visible here than in the Twin Cities where I spent part of the weekend. Lake Pepin is still ice covered, and lawns in the cities still have deep snow. In La Crosse we know we have turned a corner with the weather with the arrival of spring.  Unfortunately there are still plenty of reminders of winter past, with parking lots still holding piles of still melting snow. In downtown La Crosse, there is another sign of our past season of cold and snow. The snowflakes that are hanging from the light poles. The holiday decorations have been hanging too long. Christmas was more than three months ago. It is no longer even winter. Not only are they staying up too long, they went up early, while it was still warm. The city stopped decorating downtown for the holidays a couple years ago, so now the work falls to volunteers, who were wearing shorts when they put the snowflakes up four months ago. Well, it’s shorts weather again. It is time for them to come down, and let us dream of spring, rather than be reminded of our long, snowy winter.