When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush

Nothing is so beautiful as spring --says Gerard Manley Hopkins, and who can't agree? Beibei is alive--the high rock walls are again covered with a profusion of green, with threads of wild roses and other blossoming things mixed in. Hillside orchards lift cherry scent and rafters covering granite tables in public areas drip with wisteria. There's still plenty of dirt and pollution, but the earth's natural rhythms push spectacularly through the grime and honking horns.

It was actually the first day of spring when some students from last semester invited me to go down to the Jialing River and fly kites. As happens in spring, the skies shifted gears and threatened rain instead, but we still enjoyed a dramatic afternoon.

But spring is also alive with quickening human hearts and--it is with great joy that I will go celebrate  young love halfway around the globe and, with my beloveds, witness Chris and Ana's marriage. I will get to see Ben, Nick, and other dear ones. Not all--in fact, few of my siblings and special friends will be able to go to the Dominican Republic for this wedding, halfway between Chris's US and Ana's Brazilian home ground. Tai gui le!  I'm grateful, though, that I will be able to go--and welcome Ana to our family.

Dr. Ana Gleisner is on the right (taken in 2011).

Ana and Chris - first trip to Brazil.

We don't really need Alfred Lord Tennyson to remind us that "In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love."