Winter Wearing Down

For the first time in months, we have had nights without freezing. Here and there, small openings in the snow reveal that there is still grass in the world. The glacier on the roof above our entry has been reduced to an ice moraine.

Color is returning to the goldfinches who have survived the winter, in anticipation. They are tougher than the Twins, who have flown to Fort Myers for spring training, the worst possible preparation for their first games in their new outdoor, open to the sky, to rain, to snow and sleet, baseball stadium.

We hear a lot about how baseball was meant to be played outdoors, not in an outdated, inflatably-roofed dome, where it never rains, snows, or sleets. The players themselves, when asked about the new stadium, smile frozen smiles, and say they are really excited about pond hockey and double-headers.

Target Field. Target is the sponsor. By chance and fortune, Target sells mittens and raincoats and woolen underwear.

But, like goldfinches, we are survivors, spitting sunflower seeds onto the snow, serene in our belief that we can get at least six innings in before the next hailstorm.

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