It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.
~ Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
March — in like a lion, out like a lamb… or so they say. A month of changing weather. March is the month that day and night reach equanimity, daylight saving time starts for many of us, Julius Caesar had his very worst day, and the one where, for a single day, everyone wears green and is considered to be a little bit Irish.
The month began with huge piles of snow in my yard, but the snow has now completely melted away, and we can see tangible signs of spring such as brighter, warmer sun, snow crocuses and snowdrops pushing through the soft, damp earth, patches of bright green moss blooming in sidewalk cracks and rocky crevices, and the return of robins—bouncing around looking for worms.
Another very March thing around here is the peepers. Peepers are teeny tiny frogs that live in swampy, marshy areas. They wake up in very early spring and start their mating season. They make this really cute “peeping” sound, and when you have a chorus of them, it sounds like a calming nighttime serenade telling you that warmer, brighter days are ahead.
March so fickle, March so fair,
Pouting, shy, with wind-blown hair,
Nut-brown shawl and crocus cup,
Smile that lights the whole world up.
~ Sara L. Vickers Oberholtzer,
The Lady March, 1892
Offbeat March Celebration Days
As all months do, March has several “National Days.”
If you’re a regular reader, you know that I like to play around in the kitchen, so we are starting off with something sweet!
We have National Peanut Butter Lovers Day on March 1, National Banana Cream Pie Day on March 2, and National Pi Day on March 14 (3.14)—a day commemorating a mathematical equation, though many celebrate by baking and/or eating some sort of pie.
To commemorate these very important celebration days, I made a Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie (pi). I thought it would be an interesting experiment to combine these three “holidays” into one ridiculously rich dessert.
Sorry, math enthusiasts—I did not cut this slice of pie using the mathematical constant of pi—the ratio between its circumference and its diameter.
March 14 is also National Learn About Butterflies Day, which is dedicated to my very favorite insect. I’ve even been known to hatch my own Painted Lady butterflies.
With wings like stained glass, they are such a welcome sight when the weather warms up and they come to dine at my purple buddleia (butterfly bush). Just like bees, they are an important part of pollinating vegetable and fruit crops.
Some of these pretty pollinators are known to travel very long distances. Monarch butterflies are known for making an annual trip from southern Canada to Mexico in the early fall, while a few generations of their offspring make the trip back north in the spring. Swallowtails, on the other hand, stay close to home—spending their entire colorful, nectar-filled lives right where they began.
And lastly, March 23 commemorates the rather ominous National Near Miss Day!
On March 23, 1989, a humongous asteroid roughly the size of a mountain, called 4581 Asclepius, came within 500,000 miles of colliding with Earth. That’s about a hair’s width on a cosmic scale. Had a collision occurred, the energy released would have been comparable to a 600-megaton atomic bomb and would pretty much have totaled our planet. Yikes!
There was zero panic about the possibility of repeating the fate of the dinosaurs, because the very close drive-by of the asteroid wasn’t discovered until… nine days after the fact. It’s unclear who decided to make a National Day out of a near apocalypse… that no one even knew was a thing.
March. A lovely month filled with early spring flowers, tiny frogs, the quiet relief of having survived a near cosmic catastrophe… and, of course, pie (pi)!
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