April 13, 2015
April – The Second New Beginning
By Eloise Graham
Editor-in-Chief
We consider January as a new beginning, the new year, but April is the second new beginning of the year.
April is the beginning of the 2nd quarter of the year.
In the business world or private sector, companies are sending out their 1st quarter reports. Often glossy, brightly colored magazines report on the financial ups and downs. They are always glowing reports, even if depicting some losses, all in hopes of maintaining and gaining investors.
April is the beginning of new life in nature.
For animals that hibernate, they are coming out of their burrows in April. Birds fly back from the south and settle down to start their families. The bees and butterflies begin to gather nectar from the first flowers of the season. For animals that don’t hibernate, they start having their babies: coyotes, deer, owls, squirrels, eagles, foxes, and others – farm animals like chickens, mules, pigs, sheep, cows, goats and horses.
For trees and other plants it is a new beginning. The start of the growing season. Flowering shrubs burst forth with color. Fruit trees blossom out with the beginnings of their specific fruit. There is newness all around in April.
April is also the Diamond Month
Diamond is the birthstone of April -nothing more than a big lump of coal, really old and under a lot of pressure. All joking aside, the diamond is carbon whose atoms are arranged in a crystal structure called a diamond lattice. The diamond has the highest hardness and thermal conductivity of any bulk material. Natural diamonds have a clear, colorless appearance. Impurities in the lattice structure will give it a hint of color.
Baseball diamonds are opening up in April…take me out to the ballgame!
For the most part, spring training is over, and now the teams get to PLAY BALL. Opening day is in early April. Our QC River Bandits play April 9 at Peoria. Opening home game is April 12 against Clinton. Baseball differs from other team sports in that there is no clock. The time of the game depends solely on the runs and outs in each inning, not the number of minutes. There are also many different forms of “baseball” to choose to watch – or play. Of course, there are the major and minor leagues. For most of us, they are just for watching. However, there is also softball and slo-pitch that many “weekend athletes” can participate in.
