Spring: a beginning, an ending

On this 21st day of March of A.D. 2007, the season of Spring is officially under way! Hooray! We in South Texas had better enjoy it; it lasts a mere couple of weeks before the heat of summer assaults and takes over.

It's been almost one year -- 12 months, 365 days -- since I began this blog site. My first two postings were on 30 and 31 March of last year. While I was commencing this blog site, I wasn't certain where I wanted to go with it, other than I knew I really enjoyed describing this City of San Antonio so much, and that this should thus be THE focus of my blog. And as I continued to mull over the nature of this blog, it was evident that I probably should set a limit on it. That is, I could go on and on and on, describing what's happening with me here, and sharing tidbits (some larger, some smaller) about the city's attractions and events as I encountered them.

Therefore, I came to the conclusion that describing one year of living in San Antonio would be a fitting way to set parameters to the blog. This doesn't mean that I will cease all work on this blog, come 29 March. I want to go back and refine some postings, so dear reader, you may want to return to favorite posts just to see if I've made any changes.

Furthermore, I may still post some new blogs. Certainly I have a few days before the year is up. And who knows what may happen in these next couple of weeks? I DO know that the César Chávez Parade will be on the 31st, and I shall certainly have words to share about this event that honors one of my heroes!

And why end of March to end of March? Well, as I explained in the first posting (30 March A.D. 2006), I was prompted to create a blog site by my son and my younger sister having blogs. If they could do it, surely I could do it, too! And the prompting just "happened" to be in late March.

And even tho' a calendar year (1 January to 31 December) makes sense, in San Antonio a year covering basically April to March makes sense. How many times have I described San Antonio as "the city whose middle name is 'party'?" And the "party-to-end-all-parties" is Fiesta San Antonio in April! And before THAT party begins, earlier at the end of March and beginning of April we have the Good Lord throwing His own natural party, as the wildflowers bloom out all over. As I wrote in my code-switching poem "Dos Mil Dos: el año of arriving in San Antonio" I live in "San Antonio de las flores, San Antonio de los colores" (S.A. of the flowers, of the colors).

Here's hoping, dear reader that my postings have carried some of the color of this fascinating city into your life. If you live in or near S.A., neighbor, isn't it gr-r-r-reat to live here??? And if you live far away, well, don't make yourself a stranger! Come visit us! S.A. is a friendly city, in a friendly state. Indeed, the name "Texas" (or "Tejas") comes from the name the Spaniards interpreted certain Caddo Indians in eastern Texas as applying to themselves, and which the European explorers translated as "friends".

So y'all come visit us soon now, ya hear?