Jean Geiger's Blog

For winter's rains and ruins are over,
    And all the season of snows, and sins;
  The days dividing lover and lover,
    The light that loses, the night that wins;
  And time remembered is grief forgotten,
  And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
  And in green underwood and cover
    Blossom by blossom the spring begins.

(excerpt from Chorus of "Atalanta in Calydon" by Swinburne, Project Gutenberg, public domain)

The now somewhat infamous tree outside the window of my office in Shuster Hall has started to bud!

As I walk around Lehman's historic campus, the signs of Spring are apparant.  The trees have responded to the unusually warm weather with a green mist that will soon obscure the bare branches as the leaves mature.

The quad is getting into the act with blossoms on the cherry trees (in front of the Old Gym building) and a lone red bud tree has already formed bright flowers along its branches.  The Canadian geese are leaving their usual gifts along the grass and the paths--watch where you step!  And the robins have returned from their annual migration a bit early this year.

My colleagues in the Registrar's Office and I have been working hard on the CUNYfirst conversion, so I have had less time to roam about the campus recently (my apologies for not posting a blog entry sooner).  Spring is the traditional time of renewal and new beginnings and thus a fitting time for CUNYfirst to burst forth at Lehman!  As we complete the final tasks before the campus launch of the new system, I have to remind myself to take advantage of the College's natural environment.

I have loved the stanza from Swinburne (quoted above) since I was in high school.  I leave you with my favorite line:  Blossom by blossom the spring begins.