mountain lions walk the streets of boulder, other wildlife returns to places that are unoccupied. lots of places are unoccupied. if you sit out on your porch, you may hear birds singing, as spring is arriving in many places. a friend of mine says there are still three feet of snow in northwest territories, but spring is arriving there too. nature has made us go home to our rooms, and pay attention to it.

look here, says nature, now that it has us trapped at home, afraid to venture out to the restaurant. you have trashed this planet. you've heated up antarctica, and let the seas rise. your factories have burned coal and other things, choking off the air - look here, here is fresh air, even in china, pay attention.

you have elected trump. and then, on the other side, biden, just as bad. you are the leader of the free world - are you going to just let all the insects die? and the birds? and the frogs? and every living thing, on up the chain? No. Stop. This virus is here to teach you a lesson.

you have cornered animals into increasingly smaller spaces. endangered, almost extinct, they have no other place to go. you are eating them in the outdoor markets as you stroll in the evening, talking to each other. can you blame them if they release a virus, as their last chance to survive? if this virus shows you what clean air can be like, what it's like to see dolphins, what happens when the animals have a little breathing room?

springtime, you see, is beautiful. as promised, the green comes back, the little shoots come from the earth, and blossom. in this dry country, it's not wet, not bright green, until july. but it's spring - the ice is gone.

pay attention - there's some things you really need to see.