Our Ugliest Month

I drove nearly 300 miles across the state today, and I had a revelation. March is Michigan’s ugliest month.

The ground had been blanketed with snow for three or four months. Now, much of it is gone. What is left is no longer white, or at least not the deep, pristine white, built-up layer upon layer. Instead, it is a white mixed with a dirty brown.

Shopping mall parking lots are even worse. All winter long, snow plows pushed the snow into a single mountain of snow. I suspect the plows picked up chunks of asphalt along the way. By March, the mountains have shrunk and the white piles are mixed with the black chunks. There is other discoloring which must be from automobile exhaust fumes. Regardless of the cause, it is not a pretty site.

The roadside litter is an incredible eyesore. I frankly don’t know where it comes from. I am old enough to remember the anti-litter campaigns of the 1960s. That was, in many respects, the first stage of the environmental movement – before Earth Day, before the Environmental Protection Act, before worry over endangered species. The thought, then, was Keep America Beautiful and we did that by not littering. Global warming, environmental contamination, or toxic wastes were not the concerns. It was enough that the portion of America which we could see be kept beautiful. Before then, I used to see, quite regularly, people throw garbage out of car windows. I rarely see that now.

And yet the roadside is cluttered with litter. Where does it come from? It may very well be a natural and gradual accumulation. We don’t see it in the summer, when the road crews and Adopt-a-Highway groups clean the roads. We don’t see it in the winter, when the roadsides are covered in snow. It is a different matter when the snow melts. Suddenly, three or four months of litter along the roadside.

White may be the dominant color of winter. Green is the dominant color of spring and summer. Orange and the other multiple colors of the changing leaves are the dominant colors of fall. But in March, it is brown. The snow is gone or going, and the trees have not yet turned various shades of green. What is left is the barren look of brown. Brown is not the peaceful color of white, nor the invigorating color of green. Brown is a far more depressing color for landscape.

The orchards are especially barren. Rows and rows of trees, perfectly arranged. In March, they look like posts in the ground with sticks as branches. No trace of any fruit.

November is brown too, and maybe it is Michigan’s second ugliest month. But there is still some lingering fall colors in November, and often there is a slight covering of snow. The brown is not as dominant in November as it is in March.

The sunlight of March is deceiving as well. There are far too many gray days in winter, and the sun shines brighter, and more often, in March. But the moment you enter outdoors, you are reminded that it is not yet spring. The bright sun deceives you into thinking spring, but the cold air reminds you that it is still winter.

The cold temperature, though, can be overstated. For some reason, 30° in March is far warmer than 30° in November. Our bodies must adjust to the cold winter air. The near freezing days of March seem refreshing after the subfreezing days of January and February.

The only good thing about March is the anticipation of things to come. Soon, the trees will bloom and the flowers will blossom. People will be seen on the sidewalks and we can feel like neighbors again. We will be able to go outside without a multiple layer of clothing. Spring is not far away after all.