Spring is sproing

There are all sorts of signs that we’ve committed to the change of season—the “second wave” flowers such as California Poppies blooming and the arrival of the first sugar snap peas. Another announcement came at dinner last night, when our conversation was interrupted by a weird “priioooonnnng” noise, descending in pitch like a slide whistle. Moments later, a sudden “wrrreoooooooo.” A half hour later, a higher-pitched version: “bweeeeeooooooonnng”. Then another. The G and E strings of Alton's violin, and the G, D, and E strings of the Ifshin's violin all came undone. The weather changed enough that the relationship between pegboxes and the tuning pegs—fair weather friends?—changed, and they let go of each other. Of course, it could be worse. We could live in a part of the country where we need different winter and summer soundposts and bridges.