Spring

NEW YORK - Carnival Cruise Lines prices have taken a dip this spring, according to pricing data, and some industry observers blame headlines about problems on several Carnival ships. Todd Elliott, owner of Cruise Vacation Outlet, said his agents had seen a drop in price of 20 percent or more for equivalent cruises. "Rates are far lower than I have seen in a while; for example, the Carnival Dream, seven nights, Eastern Caribbean out of Port Canaveral, May 4 is $299 per person," he said.

Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king; Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring, Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing: Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo! The palm and may make country houses gay, Lambs frisk and play, the shepherds pipe all day, And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay: The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet, Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit, In every street these tunes our ears do greet: Spring, the sweet Spring!

What goes up also comes down as the spray from Swann Memorial Fountain competes with the real thing. The fountain, on Logan Circle, was turned on yesterday for the first time this season.

Lee and Helen Faye Plowden of South Carolina stop to smell the roses (and everything else) at the Philadelphia Flower Show, which runs through next Sunday at the Civic Center.

Spring arrived so suddenly you might have missed its coming if you had the 24-hour flu. Almost overnight the world has gone from a monochromatic brown to a palette of delicate greens and pinks, vivid yellow and purples. In the course of just a few hours on Sunday, daffodils changed from tight buds into full blossoms. The warm sunshine and gentle wind offered perfect enticements to plunk down on a patch of grass and watch the transformation. No need for time-lapse photography; things were moving too quickly.

Ah, spring! What a pleasant surprise. Along the gritty, parking-lot fringes of Arch Street yesterday morn, the daffodils waved on their stems, aching to break the seal on their blossoms. Sport coats got left behind at the office at noon: It was the 60s again, full sun, strolling weather, long lunch. At the Reading Terminal Market, the farmers at the Esh Egg stand had dyed and swirled the standard fare, sprucing up dull shells for Easter. In the morning rush, un-hiberating neighbors hollered greetings.

Gwen Florio is a former Inquirer staff writer who lives in Missoula, Mont. Yo, Philly! Yeah, you. You with the Facebook photos of your backyard barbecues, and the Twitpics of your darn dogwoods, and the whiny e-mail about how hot it is. Knock it off. Because here's what greets me on too many mornings: Snow. Not just lying around the ground, a dingy reminder of winter, but actively coming down out of the sky. Sometimes, just for variety, the wind kicks in and the snow comes down sideways.

When the Philadelphia Flower Show comes to the Civic Center, can spring be far behind? Exactly a week after the show, which ends Sunday, comes the calendar start of spring.

Josh Long, 14, of Holland, Bucks County, digs the boards set up in the fountain at the Philadelphia Museum of Art yesterday, a gloriously sunny first day of spring. The season started officially at 3:26 p.m., so think of today as the first FULL day of spring.

Along the Wissahickon, a favorite haunt of nature lovers, spring arrives in many ways. Warmer days and greener trees have walkers and joggers hurrying to the trail. And spruce-up efforts pick up. Yesterday's high of 58 was but a breath of spring, however. Colder weather approaches.

To me, May will always be goat cheese weather. Walk into any cheese shop, and it's a petting zoo of pretty goodies: goat cheeses wrapped in leaves, rolled in flowers, molded into balls and bells. It's worth a stroll through Reading Terminal Market or your favorite cheese shop just to check out the Loire Valley bling - the most-prized French goat cheeses appear in spring, just after new pastures have been grazed. One of the best ways to celebrate this bounty is to assemble a seasonal goat cheese board.

THE RESTAURANTS and merchants of Rittenhouse Row are gathering again on Walnut Street this Saturday, and that means about 50,000 area residents and guests will be joining them for one of Center City's largest street fairs. The Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival will close Walnut from Broad to 19th streets (from noon until 5 p.m.) and feature food, fashion, entertainment and fun for children. It's big. It's crowded. It's fun. And this year there's a lot of new stuff. * Dunkin' Donuts will be giving out free iced coffee on the 1400 block of Walnut.

D EAR ABBY: I have a friend who I believe is having an affair. I have no concrete evidence, only a slew of circumstantial evidence such as odd work hours, blocks of mystery time set aside at night in his cellphone's day planner, and evading questions about texts from females. I have no idea how to approach him, or if I even should. What makes me uneasy is that it's all based on my hunch. I'm usually pretty good with my hunches, though. Any words of wisdom would be welcome.

It has been a roller-coaster week for Methacton's baseball team. The Warriors opened a key three-game Pioneer Athletic Conference stretch with a win over Division I-bound righthander A.J. Bogucki and Boyertown. Then, in a big letdown, they fell to Perkiomen Valley. Friday afternoon in Worcester, scoring three runs in each of their last two at-bats, catcher Clayton Harwick and company closed with an 11-7 triumph over fellow title contender Spring-Ford. "It's been pretty wild this season," Harwick said.

DAVID PERRI became streets commissioner on Monday. By yesterday he'd gotten the Junk Cars guys to remove their junky signs. Well, that was quick. Only the day before, the Junk Cars guys - they say their names are Joe and John - had no intention of removing their 8-by-11 posters, which offer $200-$450 for beaters. "We know they're illegal, but we need to make a living," said Joe. I'd called him at 215-278-1161 to ask why he'd papered Fairmount and the Lower Northeast with the forbidden signs.

UPDATE: The victim was identified Thursday as Li Wi, of Blue Bell A 79-year-old Montgomery County man was killed and his 77-year-old wife was injured by a car that jumped a curb Wednesday afternoon in Spring Garden, police said. The Nissan veered onto the sidewalk at 18th and Spring Garden Streets after being struck by a Toyota in the intersection shortly after 4:30 p.m., said Chief Inspector Scott Small. The man was pinned under the car in front of the Highway Tabernacle Church until he was rescued by medics and transported to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:03 p.m. His wife was reported in stable condition at Hahnemann.

The 79-year-old Montgomery County man who died Wednesday after being struck by a car in the city's Spring Garden section was identified by a relative Thursday as Wei Li of Blue Bell. In a brief interview at the family's home, Yongli Min, Li's son-in-law, said he had just returned from visiting his mother-in-law, Jufang He, 77, who was trying to cope with the loss of her husband. Li and his wife were on the sidewalk in front of the Highway Tabernacle in the 1800 block of Spring Garden Street when he was hit and pinned beneath a car about 4:30 p.m., police said.

Yellow Springs has made a name for itself in Chester Springs with aged goat cheeses that exude subtle complexity. But their unique sense of place is also unmistakable, and not only because of the natural yeasts and molds floating around the 160-year-old fieldstone barn where Al and Catherine Renzi have made their farmstead cheeses for the last four years. Al also takes cues from his farm's bounty, like the black walnuts (soaked in Nocino liqueur) for his Nutcracker. But my favorite is Red Leaf, an unusual firm puck aged inside native sycamore leaves soaked in red wine.

STATE COLLEGE - It was the third quarter. It was cold, windy, and sometimes snowy. And Bill O'Brien on the stadium microphone, imploring fans to do the wave. Such was the laid-back atmosphere of the Blue-White Game on Saturday in Beaver Stadium, in which a taut defense ended up on the right side of a complex scoring system, 67-47. Leading the way for the defense (the Blue team) was defensive lineman Austin Johnson, who notched five tackles and a pair of sacks, while defensive linemen Brad Bars and Evan Schwan had a pair of sacks.