After months of deep snow and bitter cold, it comes as little surprise that spring has struggled to begin. Wet snow, leaden skies and raw air were the melody as the spring equinox arrived late Friday and early Saturday on the Island. Like the rest of us, the ground has emerged somewhat battered by so much winter. Early this week roadsides were rutted and strewn with clods of earth thrown up by plows, many still wearing little caps of ice and looking like oddly sprouted mushrooms. Porches and windows of Island houses were covered with a fine layer of grime. The wind off the water was sharp and cold with barely a suggestion of spring.

But the days have grown suddenly long, casting new angles of light into the house at suppertime. Day by day the air softens, the wind shifts and fog blows in. The osprey have returned. Two construction workers sit on the bench in front of the Edgartown courthouse, eating their lunch in the noonday sun. In the field behind Arrowhead Farm in West Tisbury, horse hoof prints dent dark earth. Someone has been out for a ride. Soon this field will turn green, and nearby along Indian Hill Road fat daffodils will bloom. And the chilly spring evening air will be filled with the sound of pinkletinks.

April beckons. The osprey know.