Inching Our Way Back to Spring

Sights like these are things I live for - signs of winter being kicked back over to the other side of the world. Finally.

The other day whilst out taxiing children to class I looked up and actually saw a tree with the beginnings of cherry blossom .. cherry blossom!! ... and my heart actually skipped a beat. Spring?! Already? Oh, yes please! I felt like running through the streets like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music declaring to people that spring, at last- it is almost here! Doe a deer! A FEMALE deer! (I didn't, of course, because in our hood running through streets only happens when followed by crazed gangs or police, and English isn't even a third language here. And crazy, white English speaking people singing 'Doe a Deer' is more like to end up with hospitalisation rather than accompanying a Capella vocalisations that I had envisaged in my head - and what little English does get spoken here belongs more on a NWA album than Julie Andrews... jus' sayin').

I could hardly believe that by keeping my head down and ploughing on through life and work that I had managed to forge through a whole season and come out the other side. It certainly put a spring in my step - no pun intended - and I could feel a heavy load lifting. Garden, allotment, flowers, fresh air, washing on washing lines (me so rock n roll) - all of these things and more are so tantalisingly close. Finally.

Inching our way back to spring.

The Forsythia Saga

Only now is our garden awakening. We can count the number of full leaves on one hand, and they are all plum tree. The Forsythia which is usually fully flowered at the end of February here has only just started to bloom. I think we can confirm that this is a crazy late spring.

But spring it is, and the late start has me itching to throw myself into all things gardening - coupled with the fact that we had no allotment last year, and well, I'm ready to watch things grow. You too?

Official :: It's Spring

Yes, I know it's February. I know that spring is not official until way after the equinox. But I don't care. We have daffodils and crocus already popping up in the garden; the sunlight is stronger each day; buds are almost squeaking on the trees (almost) and in the principality of Deb-dom that is my home I have declared it to be spring. At last.

And just in case no one believes me? I'm drowning them in pollen to induce a coma.

The Garden

No vegetables this year. Just an overgrown mess with a few blooms ripe for brightening up the house.

To be fair, it has rained constantly since the beginning of April here, and I just didn't fancy gardening in the driving rain, y' know? No matter. The sun has made it through for a while and we're just happy that it has - so no major garden projects this year - just a whole lot of grass to lay out on and doze... perfect.

What is your garden growing this year?

Flowers From the Garden

At last, the time has come when fresh flowers can come straight from the garden. It might be the worse summer in living memory but all this rain means some pretty splendid blooms.

I Buy Flowers For Myself...

Because I'm worth it.

Actually, because no one else will....



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Cut Flowers

It never gets old. Fresh cut flowers all over our home. The start of spring means the start of flower buying for me. It's something I look forward to at the end of every winter - the promise of blooms soon to come. But the time I really look forward to? Lilac season.... can't wait.


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Simple Pleasures :: Freshly Picked Flowers

Freshly picked flowers, from garden to vase. The smell and colour of summer, savoured.


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