Is it Spring?

(For readers accessing via their phones the following is written in poetry form...

...in truth, the above message is for my son as his reader doesn't show up line returns!)

Meteorological Spring I

Each March-time it comes as a shivery shock

To be told that it’s Spring once again.

The wind has a bite like an angered guard dog

And the forecast says snowfall, not rain.

But if Spring starts in March then I think it quite strange, the way

Summer time starts in mid June.

Because June also hosts England’s Midsummer’s day

Which means Autumn will come along soon.

Then the flowers will fade and the birds will take flight,

Clichéd mellow mists turn to hoar frost.

We’ll be plunged into Winter, the month of no light

With another year’s hopes and dreams lost.

(To those who have told me off for giving it a negative ending, it rhymes with frost and besides, there are always a few hopes and dreams not realised when the chimes ring out for the new year!)

View from the kitchen window

Meteorological Spring II

How can it be Spring?

The wind’s biting harder than a grisly guard dog.

My toes are tender red,

My fingers pinched white.

Who says blossom is ready to burst?

I see no bulging buds – only bare bone branches.

The meteorologists must have got it wrong.

It’s too soon for Spring.

This year’s Meteorological Spring was on 1^st March.

The Chill of February...

...and the warmth of friendship

February is the bleakest time of the year. Today the sun is shining but it wasn't like that yesterday. Yesterday tree branches stretched across a mud-grey sky like witches talons. It was so desolate that I didn't notice the clumps of snowdrops with their promise of better weather to come. I photographed them today but, even though the sun had lifted my mood, the wind made me shiver, reminding me that we’ve more harsh weather to endure. This is a time for gathering friends around us. So I got to thinking about what a friend really means to me:

A friend is someone who you can chat with, even when there’s nothing special to talk about; someone who knows exactly what to say when you’re feeling down; someone who’s always there when you need a hug. That goes for virtual hugs too.

So thank you to all my friends, including my blogging friends, for being around through the bleak mid-winter. Here is that photograph which I took in the garden this lunchtime. Spring is on its way and Summer will be just around the corner. Keep warm.

Spontaneous Photography

It's that time of year again when I keep bursting into spontaneous attacks of photography.

I'm sure you recognise these flowers from last year but you do realise that...

...they're not the exact same flowers as last year, don't you?

I mean, these flowers have appeared from the bare earth in our garden 

and even though it happens every year...

...it makes me wonder why people don't believe in magic... 

...because it doesn't get more magical than this, now does it!

Is it Spring yet?

I've had a lovely holiday. Lots of family and friends came to visit. I've eaten more food than was sensibly necessary. I've done lots of chatting and hugging grandkids and now it's over. Yesterday  morning I took a New Year stroll down the garden. The sky was a solid grey. The ground was muddy to the point of being squelchy. There was nothing particularly inspiring...

...until I reached the very end of the garden and looked up at the Mahonia bush with its display of bright yellow flowers. They may look mediocre in this photograph but they put a smile on my face.

Spring isn't far away!

Are there any flowers appearing in your garden yet?

Springtime and a Good Read

It feels like spring is on the way. I know it’s only February but the sun is shining this morning. There are flowers struggling through... 

I photographed these Hellebores this morning in our garden.

...and the birds are singing in a slightly different way. I can’t quite say how, maybe a higher note, maybe more cheerily. You know what I mean, don’t you? Anyway all the bushes have new buds appearing and they’ll soon be opening and talking of new things...

[apologies for a truly groan-worthy DJ link] 

Annalisa Crawford’s new book, Cat and the Dreamer, is out this week on Kindle and as a pdf. Here’s the blurb:

Cat and the Dreamer 

published by Vagabondage Press

As a teenager Julia survived a suicide pact while her best friend, Rachel, died. Julia’s only escape from her guilt, and her mother’s over-protection, is her imagination. When Adam arrives in the office Julia’s world takes a startling turn as she realises reality can be much more fun than fantasy. Finally she has someone who can help her make the most of her life. But can she allow herself to be truly happy?

Annalisa told me that her book is now on Good Reads. I’d never been to that site before so I clicked the link and had a prowl around. It seems like a great idea, getting suggestions of books you might enjoy based on the books you've recently read, but when I tried to join up, it wanted to know a lot about me and my contacts. Maybe I’m just being super-cautious but has anybody had a bad experience through joining Good Reads? Or would you recommend it as a the next best thing to having your own personal librarian?

Spring: A new beginning or more of the same?

Yesterday was the Vernal Equinox. We’re halfway between the shortest, darkest day and the longest, lightest one. We can say with confidence that it’s Spring, but is Spring a new beginning? It might be the time when flowers start to open but those buds have been growing for months. So where does our yearly cycle really begin? I’ve never understood why January 1st should be a new beginning. The Winter Solstice would be more logical, or even our birthday. If it comes to it, do we have a natural yearly cycle or are our bodies governed by a monthly cycle, or a daily one... or should we be ‘living in the moment’?

These were questions that I threw at yesterday’s local Lapidus group. We had gathered in Leicester and, although I was leading the session, I still had the day put aside as well-earned ‘me-time’. I had spent most of last week with Rod at the specialist unit of London’s Royal Free Hospital. They told us that his chemotherapy treatment is to be extended for another two months. I was ready for my ‘me-time’.

The group agreed that they were influenced by a yearly cycle but none of the ones I had listed out. It was the academic year, with the end of the long summer holiday marking a new beginning in many people’s lives. We talked about seasons having smells and tastes. Smells are so evocative. They can take us back to long-ago events from similar times of the year but these memories are often negative. Would it not be better to live in the moment? By all means plan and prepare for future events but why do many of us mourn for the past, worry for the future and ruin the present? (ok, ok, so I'm talking about myself here!)

At this point I introduced out first writing exercise. We chose one moment from that morning before we met and we followed a simple format of listing the senses. I love these group writing sessions. They always produce as many ideas as there are people in the group. Our chosen moments ranged from a precious early morning cup of tea to an uninhibited dance in a rain-drenched garden.

The poem The Art of Blessing the Day by Marge Piercy inspired us to write our own words of appreciation for the small things in life. We blessed just about everything from the smooth satin lining of a much-loved jacket to a nice cup of tea... I could take a hint. We stopped for tea, biscuits, news, gossip and general chatter. My me-time had once again turned into me/we/tea time. I created this phenomenon in an earlier post and firmly believe that we all need it every now and then.

Before we rushed back to the real world I read a piece from the Strictly Writing Blog. Guest blogger, Tara L. Masih, talked of her father’s advice to always put positive, beautiful images into our minds because images never leave us. Once our vision processes a scene or picture, it is stored in our subconscious forever. Tara likened our minds to one big filing drawer that stretches to infinity. This is why she tries to avoid graphic violence on TV and film, likes to garden, go to art museums, and explore different places and cultures.

As I was reading, the group were nodding in agreement. We don’t want to waste space in our mental filing cabinets on negative thoughts and so we gathered up some positive thoughts to take away with us, like the feeling you get when you’re lost in a good book, or when you see an amazing sunset. For me it was my day with the local Lapidus group which has now been filed safely away in my mental filing cabinet under the letter p for positive.