Dear Reader:

After all the cloudy days, chilly days and rainy days we have experienced this winter…yesterday March came in like the sweetest little lamb you ever saw….warm, sunny disposition, blue skies and an euphoria of happiness prevailed on the first day of March …absolutely nothing “BAAAAD” about it! 🙂

I wanted to know where the expression started and why today the original verse gets reversed a lot…like in today’s post title.

Here is a little short history about the origin of the expression.

*(One of the earliest artistic depictions of the phrase- British painter: Briton Riviera)

“March comes in like a lion, out like a lamb” means that March starts off with cold winters and ends with warmer, spring weather. Because March straddles the winter/spring line, this is the perfect idiom to describe the weather during this month.

The oldest known written reference to the “lion/lamb” proverb comes from English author Thomas Fuller, who included it in a 1732 volume of proverbs, “wise sentences, and witty sayings, ancient and modern.” (Soon Farmers Almanacs took it and included it in their March monthly calendar facts)

The simple explanation of “in like a lion, out like a lamb” is that when March starts it’s still officially winter. When the month ends, it’s officially spring. The month opens on fierce cold weather and ends on much gentler weather.

But… is this really true? You’ve almost certainly seen the reverse happen, with pleasant warming at the start of the month that turns into a snarling cold by the end. *(Like the lowcountry yesterday’s start! 🙂 

And this is why the “in like a lion, out like a lamb” phrase often gets reversed. It isn’t because people don’t remember the statement, but because  the opposite happens frequently. The simple way to boil this down is that March is all lambs and all lions: you never know for certain what you’re going to get!

(It’s kind of like the groundhog….it just always depends on the sun and/or the shadows! )

Since I am getting better and better at living in the moment as I get older and older…I no longer worry or care if the groundhog sees his shadow or not and how March arrives…I am pretty lackadaisical about these small things in life now. I am simply happy that March came and spring is hot on its heels!

Apparently I wasn’t the only one to get in the ‘planter’s and garden spirit’ over the weekend…Lowes and Home Depot, as well as, Tractor Supply had lines to Siberia and back…and I was in several.

I did get a few plants in hanging pots and fertilized other plants…hope to get out in the garden tomorrow with temps in the low 70’s and plant, plant, plant some new additions to the garden!

I also got some more bird feeders so the birds can eat around the beautiful azalea blooming bushes . *As I was watering some outdoor plants I looked down at one of the two “sentry” rabbits that line the side of my house along the driveway. Suddenly I noticed little lavender wild flowers had popped up around one rabbit. So for taking all the wear and tear of weather all these years I think it deserves to be “rabbit rabbit” for the second day of March!

*A huge shout-out to my wonderful oncologist, Dr. Ashley Jeter, who won “Oncologist of the Year” in our local paper’s annual awards contest.

I love it and she is so deserving…now I can brag and tell everyone “MY” oncologist is the “Oncologist of the Year!” Congratulations Dr. Jeter!!!