Spring has taken an uncommonly long time getting here this year where we live. That’s probably true in a lot of places. Late snowfalls, temps dropping into the 20s overnight. Come on, already. It’s time. Finally, some warmer days arrive, and what do we get? The annual shower of pollen.

A cartoon in today’s newspaper sums it up nicely. It shows the Wizard of Oz gang, Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow, suddenly halting their cheerful skipping travels. One of them says, “Wait. This isn’t the Yellow Brick Road. It’s pollen!

Pine trees abound in north-central North Carolina, and this time of year, they spread yellow pollen everywhere. Car wash businesses love it. Most everyone else hates it. Folks with allergies suffer greatly. Yellow dust coats driveways, cars, our hair, our clothing. Nothing, it seems, escapes. all around, we see an abundance of beautiful evidence of the coming of spring — flowering trees, blooming azalea, forsythia, buds popping out on nearly everything that grows.

But that pollen. ah-choo! Sunshine is great, but just now, I’d settle for a good soaking rain to wash the yellow away.

Please?