Today is the third day of spring. Light now has 12 minutes and 34 seconds over dark - at least here. The days are growing shorter over Concord's antipode, a spot in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia, but there's no one there to lament the weakening sun.

The winter's snows are fast becoming the waters of March that swell brooks and rivers. The sap is rising to swell maple buds that will soon redden the crowns of trees. If sap were still gathered in buckets, the sound of drops falling in containers filled to different levels would add its music to the sound of the snowmelt. But maple sap runs from tree to tub through tubes of green that craze the sugar bush. The tradeoff is syrup that's a wee bit cheaper than it otherwise would be, and syrup is dear this year.

The offal of winter has been exposed by the vanishing snow banks - here a shoe, there a comb, litter and the odd piece of change. And always the soggy leavings of dogs. But all that too will vanish.

It was a rough winter. Freezing rain that didn't at first seem threatening lasted until lines came down, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power, some for a week or more. Economic activity froze too as the nation, indeed much of the world, fell into deep recession. It will be especially good this spring to be spared the expense of heating a home with money that's more than ever too precious to burn.

The more upbeat economists say the recession could lift by the end of the year or early in 2010. Maybe they're right. For that to happen, though, consumers will have to start buying again - and that won't happen until businesses begin adding rather than reducing their workforces. But for that to happen, consumers will have to start buying again. The economic stimulus plan is designed to tease the nation out of that disastrous feedback loop, but that will take more than a slight tug.

People's paychecks will get a small lift in week or two as a result of an Obama administration decision to reduce the payroll tax slightly. That will help, but in the north, warm weather will help even more.

Tulips and crocuses are up on south sides of homes, and against a church's brick wall daffodil buds are showing the promise of yellow. Ice the color of skim milk still covers White Pond, but geese and gulls are afloat in the shallows of Horseshoe Pond.

The ground under Rollins Park's magnificent pines is mostly bare, but snow still coats most of the park. The cardinals are singing, which means it's time to take in bird feeders.

Moving the clocks ahead an hour has been a blessing for those who savor evening light, and the roads are filling with people on bikes. Lean people in tight, bright clothing clip their shoes into the pedals and become one with their machine. More casual riders wear less-colorful clothes and ride taller in the saddle and much slower. Watch out for all of them; it's their road too.

Where the ground is bare it's wet, which is the way it's supposed to be this time of year. Back out of the driveway carelessly and if you're lucky, the rut in the lawn will heal on its own. If not, it will become another chore to do. A few warm days in a row and it will be mud season.