When the temperature reaches single digits, as it did here at the High Pointe Inn on Cape Cod last night, I start looking for signs of spring. Chalk it up to a “Peter Pan” syndrome, but scanning my world for signs that spring is on the horizon cheers me up, gives me hope, and most importantly, helps me focus on the positive. “Accent the positive, eliminate the negative, and latch on to the affirmative…” a Johnny Mercer tune, pretty much outlines my approach to life.

So it was welcome news that the Red Sox equipment truck left Fenway Park yesterday and headed south to Fort Myers, Florida, home to Boston’s spring training. For many New Englanders that is the first and most significant sign that spring will indeed come to Red Sox nation. Catchers and pitchers report to camp on February 15, with the rest of the club reporting on the 19th. And once again, the quest begins.

But that is not the only sign of spring I look for in the days and weeks that lead up to the season opener. Each week, it seems, another harbinger of spring arrives. Here, in no particular order, are the ones that speak to me:

1. The goldfinches shed their winter green feathers for summer sunshine yellow.
2. Crocuses peek their heads up through the snow.
3. Spring peepers start to chirp.
4. Skunk cabbage returns to swampy areas.
5. Boston Gift Show.
6. Boston Flower Show.
7. Kreme ‘N Cone reopens.
8. Seafood Sam’s reopens.
9. Cooke’s Seafood reopens.
10. Captain Frosty’s reopens.
11. Sesuit Harbor Café reopens.
12. Forsythia buds.
13. Heritage Museum and Gardens reopens.
14. Steamship Authority high-speed ferry to Nantucket resumes
15. Nantucket Daffodil Festival.

Of course, you may spot a theme in numbers 7-11, but as a confirmed clam shack aficionado I have my priorities. But, if you’re in need of something to look forward to, we have a great “Spring Fling” package available from March 1 through May 14 that is sure to bring spring into your heart.

My father loved baseball. He used to brag about being called up to play on the high school team when he was still in junior high. It was certainly something to be proud of, even though the male population of the high school at the time was somewhat shy of a full roster baseball team and in need of players. He was on the high school basketball team for the same reason, but his real passion was baseball.

I think if life circumstances had been different for Dad, he would have been a professional ball player. But first he had to contend with the Depression, then five years of service in the Army during WWII, and eventually the responsibilities of raising two little girls. He should have coached little league, but back then girls weren’t allowed to play, so instead of lobbing fly balls into leftfield on Saturday mornings, he was pushing me and my sister around the yard in a wheel barrel.

It was the Impossible Dream Team of 1967, when the Red Sox stunned the nation by winning the American League East pennant and reaching the World Series for the first time since 1946, that made me a baseball fan. Back then Saturday afternoons were spent watching the game. My Dad and I used to argue who was the most valuable player among a roster that included Rico Petrocelli, Carl Yastrzemski, Tony Conigliaro, Ken Harrelson (the Hawk), George Scott, Reggie Smith, and pitcher Jim Lonborg.

Later in life, when my life circumstances included an apartment in Boston, on occasion we’d snag some tickets from a scalper outside Fenway and catch a home game from behind third base. Though my Dad passed away several years before the Red Sox finally captured the World Series in 2004, thus ending the long drought and rumors of a “curse”, he was always a faithful fan.

I think if Dad were still alive today, he’d get a great kick out of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Set to begin its 2010 season, the opening game will take place this Sunday, June 13th between the Cotuit Kettleers and the Wareham Gatemen at Wareham. Many of the finest college players in the country make their way to Cape Cod in the summer to hone their talents in the Cape Cod Baseball League. The league has a storied history of alumni who went on to the “big show”, among them Mike Lowell, Jason Bay, and Jacoby Ellsbury who currently play in the major leagues.

Many of the fields are within minutes of our Inn and the games are free of charge.  I hope to make it to a couple of games this season, if their schedule allows.  And if I do, I’ll be thinking about Dad.

Forsythia about to bloom

Spring returns to Cape Cod and the rest of New England this weekend, Saturday, March 20th to be exact. And none too soon as far as I’m concerned. We’ve just endured 3+ days of torrential rain and wind from a classic Nor’easter. But even as the temperatures climb into the 50s and the days grow longer now that we’ve turned the clocks ahead for Daylight Savings Time, the spring that I yearn for is weeks away.

When I was little, my Mom used to clip branches of forsythia to force into bloom starting in February. Those seemingly dormant branches sitting for days on end in a tall vase beneath our picture window in the living room were pathetic to look at, I thought, until they burst into brilliant yellow bloom on some sunny afternoon in March. March is the cruelest month, some say, and certainly the longest. Though the gray of winter is beginning to show some signs of greening up around the periphery, the sun has yet to warm the earth enough to put forth the dazzling display of blossoms that April brings.

Being born in April, I tend to think of it as the most hopeful month of the year, for it certainly brings with it its share of promises: tulips and daffodils and flowering trees…the easter bunny…the Boston Marathon…and opening day of baseball season. If you are a Red Sox fan, as I am, opening day signifies an opportunity for dreams to come true. Gone are last year’s slumps and injuries and tragic losses. What lies ahead are new records to break and MVPs to be found and, yes, the chance, the hope, for a pennant race and a series win.

Fenway Park, Home of the Red Sox

So I’ll patiently wait to turn each page of the calendar throughout the rest of March and into April, knowing that as each day’s sun sets, a new one will rise in the morning, and we’ll all be that much closer to our own dreams of spring.

In the meantime, here are a couple of great weekend festivals to welcome spring on Cape Cod. Book your stay at the High Pointe Inn in West Barnstable, MA well in advance to enjoy these fun-filled weekend fests!

Nantucket’s Annual Daffodil Festival Weekend, April 23-25, 2010

Nantucket’s traditional welcome to spring, the annual Daffodil Festival celebrates the return of over three million daffodils that blanket the island in springtime. Special events include the Antique Car Parade and Tailgate Picnic, Daffodil Flower Show, Children’s Daffodil Parade, Daffy Hat Contest, Window Decorating Contest and Daffy Dog Parade.

Nantucket Daffodil Parade

Brewster in Bloom Festival, April 30-May 2

An exciting local Cape Cod festival, Brewster in Bloom is a town-wide celebration featuring an antique fair, fine arts & crafts show, band concert, and more. The festival runs for three days and culminates in a Bloom Parade down Main St.