Spring green

LIFE IN A NUTSHELL
by Terri Winder
So it’s Spring Break. For about one-third of the county population that means V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N and a goodly portion of them have packed up and gone somewhere green.
As for the other two-thirds of the county, we are a little green with envy -- hence all the spring green (including shamrocks).
If you are among those who are left in the dust (or mud, as the case may be) you still have options for making this week into a celebration.
Saturday is 3-14. To some that means, “So what?” Others (mostly math teachers) recognize it as the three significant digits in the decimal form of pi. Now you don’t have to be a math teacher, or even a math lover, to celebrate this day, any more than you have to have studied the Declaration of Independence in order to celebrate the 4th of July.
(Those who truly understand what that day signifies refer to it as Independence Day.)
That observation aside, it should be fairly obvious how one should observe pi day: by eating pi foods, of course. This could include pizza pie, shepherd’s pie, pot pie, dessert pie or even foods like pineapple or pine nuts. You could even try a pi-luck picnic (as my husband’s smartphone says it’s supposed to be sunny that day). As pi refers to the ration of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, I suppose anything round goes.
Or, if you just aren’t into math—or pi—you might consider celebrating White Day. “Ai ni Kotaeru White Day” or “Answer Love on White Day” is a growing tradition that started in Japan in 1978, by a confectionery company (naturally). The color white was chosen “because it’s the color of purity, evoking ‘pure, sweet teen love’, and also because the confectionary company started out by marketing marshmallows.
Now, in Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan, the females traditionally present chocolates to men on Valentine’s Day and one month later, on March 14, the males are expected to return the favor.
This is somewhat related to pi day as in “what goes a round comes a round.” I don’t know that this tradition will ever make it to the United States, especially because it seems to have racial overtures, but just in case you want to try it out, this is how it goes:
Men are expected to give gifts to the women who gave them gifts that are at least two or three times more valuable than what the women gave them on Valentine’s Day.
Returning a present of equal value is a way of saying one wants to end the relationship. Not returning the gift is…well, just really bad manners.
There are a few county residents who think the white from the recent snow storms is enough reason to celebrate every consecutive day. But if you’re tired of white, St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, and some of us have a jump on that holiday—those of us who are green with envy, either because we didn’t get a spring break or because Arizona didn’t have to make the change to Daylight Savings Time.
It gives the phrase “Go green” a whole new meaning, doesn’t it?