The Voice of the Turtles Is Heard in Our Land

Spring is finally here in New York - forsythia showing buttery yellow and crocuses peeking out from the ground -  but I got to experience it in LA first. On Saturday at noon, when the vernal equinox arrived, I was at the top of Temescal Ridge, looking at this view of the Pacific Ocean:

No, I dd not stand an egg on end. It turns out you can do that any day.

Next Monday is the first night of Passover, when we read one of my favorite poems, the Song of Songs:

For behold, the winter has passed; the rain is over and gone.
The blossoms have appeared in the land, the time of singing has arrived, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

When I was a child, I saw a translation that referred to "the voice of the turtle." As the only singing Turtles I knew of sang "Happy Together," it made perfect sense to me, and still does.