Color has returned to the valley. On the river, blue replaces gray as the dominant hue. Shades of green prevail on land; from the chartreuse buds of the maple trees to new-grass green to the silver green of tulip stalks. A flock of canoeists, blue, yellow, red, paddled through the eddy recently, celebrating the day in spite of chill temperatures.

Each spring, new work appears on the creative front as predictably as bears emerge from their caves. It may appear that the artists have been sleeping through the long winter, but it is a half-sleep that feeds the soul with images and color and song.

In Narrowsburg, Margo Spoerri’s windows have blossomed with recent paintings, spreading her colorful vision onto Main Street.

As part of its series, Writers Among Us, curated by Mary Greene, the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance presented a radio play work-in-progress last week that showcased a wealth of local talent. Author Janet Noble has put the winter lull to good use, concocting “Squirrel Soup,” a five-part soap opera that chronicles a fictional town in the Upper Delaware Valley.

“Squirrel Soup” is clearly unfinished, with many narrative threads hanging loose, but its fabric is rich enough to make up for its holes. One hopes the author pursues its end. As she said in her introduction to the reading, radio ignites your imagination in a way that our current image-laden media culture often fails to.

Through the lens of fiction, she has constructed a kind of mirror-on-mirror image of small-town life. As the cast of townspeople read the script, I had the feeling that I was watching them watching themselves. The drama is full of juicy scandal, from a body in the attic to buried treasure in Monticello courtesy of Legs Diamond. It is funny, suspenseful and timely, even including a reference to the recent devastating World Trade Center disaster.

The macabre opening episode makes fun of the current national fever brought on by “Antiques Roadshow,” and Wendy Merritt Kaufman plays her character with a mixture of greed and propriety that is at once repulsive and endearing. As she wrestles with the dilemma brought on by her attic find, she leaves us wondering how well we’d behave given the same bizarre circumstances.

Playing many parts, Richard Grunn especially embraces the character of Harry Buck, a local writer who recently sold a story to the movies enabling him to buy a house in the little town. He is on the prowl for more inspiration, and a Brooklyn punk named Joey Fay seems able to provide it. Greg Campion plays Joey believably and earnestly. Later, he embodies the spirit of a village firefighter suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, courtesy of 9/11.

Grunn, as Uncle Jesse, advises the young man about war. “Ya never forget it, and it don’t make ya wise,” he says. The truth, stated simply and absolutely.

That’s the beauty of art, I suppose. It’s not just color and vibrancy that wrest us from our slumber; but the ability to put our lives in frames that show us who we are, where we come from and what we are up to.