Spring officially began at 6:44 a.m. in Chicagoland on Friday, March 20, 2009. It was the moment the sun's rays fell directly on the equator, the Vernal Equinox, and when the day and night are nearly equal in all parts of the world. To mark the occasion, I pulled the Easter lawn ornaments out of storage and placed little metal dancing bunnies and over-sized plastic Easter eggs on the straw-colored, dormant lawn. As I stood out there in my winter coat, hands freezing, I searched in vain for the unfurled crocus beneath the turf. Little pointed tips with their white central stripes were visible, but the flowers still slept even though it was high noon. And the Vernal Equinox, too. In nearby beds I saw blanched tips of daffodils peaking out, but not emerging, as they knew the day was chilly. We celebrate the ancient ideas of spring—fertility and the rebirth the earth—even in this modern age. But now, in addition to searching for buds, shoots and blooms, we decorate with fake plastic eggs and cartoon rabbits.  —Michelle Byrne Walsh