Segni di primavera! Signs of spring!

(as told by Maverick Darla Cannavo)

A few weeks ago, Mamma mentioned she saw signs of spring and that meant we could be outside più spesso (pew spes-oh) more often.

Non ne avevamo idea (non nay ah-vay-vah-mo e-day-a) We had no idea what she was talking about, but we jumped off the couch and ran to the back door.

“Vuoi cercare la primavera?” (Voy chair-car-a la pree-ma-vare-a) “Do you want to go look for spring?” she asked. Our tails began to wag, and we both barked to tell her yes. “Let’s have some fun outside,” she continued. We’ll have una caccia al tesoro (oon-ah ka-cha al tay-sore-o) a scavenger hunt! 

She made a list and told us all the things we had to look for. “If you find most of them,” she said, you’ll both get un premio (oon pray-me-oh) a prize! Mamma read us the list of some of the first signs of spring, so we set off to find them. First, we ran to the side of the yard where there is a line of trees. Our friends gli uccelli (ye ooh-chel-e) the birds sometimes hide in there. Sure enough, one of them was hidden in the branches and singing her song. One of the alberi (al-bear-e) trees also had green spots, which mamma told us were buds getting ready to bloom. Then we went to the side of the house and saw green stalks coming out of the ground. Those are my narcisi (nar-cheese-e) daffodils, she said. They come out of the earth every year and are a sunny yellow color.

Next, she told us to find some animals and we ran to the back of the yard where we always find coniglietti (cone-e-yet-e) bunnies hiding. We found a little one on the other side of the fence. Then we heard a familiar noise, and we ran to the back of the house and looked in the well. There we saw our friend Gus la rana (la rah-na) the frog. We hadn’t heard him for a while, but he was back because il clima si sta facendo più caldo (eel clee-ma see sta fah-chen-do pew cal-do) the weather is getting warmer. Mamma stopped us from jumping down to help him and told us she would get him out when we were back inside.

Next, we began searching for un bruco (oon brew-ko) a caterpillar. We couldn’t find one, but we did find alcune formiche (al-koon-a for-me-kay) some ants crawling up one of the fence posts. Then we laid down in the sun and una farfalle (oon-a far-fa-la) a butterfly landed on Darla’s head. I went to lick it, but it flew away.

Mamma saw we were stanchi (stan-key) tired, but she told us we did a good job. “You missed a few,” she said, “like i vermi (e vare-me) worms and gli api (ye ah-pea) bees but you deserve your prize!”

So, we went inside and settled down to enjoy two treats! Evviva la primavera! Hooray for spring!