I think that the first real sign of spring is the smell in the air. Unfortunately, we don't yet have "smell-o-vision", so I have to try and describe it. Its almost like the smell of straw, or hay in the hot sun, but with a hint of pine. It's like when you were a kid and went inside a clean barn, not a cattle/horse barn that smelled of animal poop (although, in the right circumstances, that isn't an altogether awful smell.)
This is a comforting smell. It's the hot sun, a sign that we made it though another winter, that hot sun beating down on the dry earth. It kind of reminds me of being a kid again, and lying on a straw bale, thumping it and watching the chaff rise and spin in the hot sun. I don't think I ever actually did that, but if I did, then the smell of that and the smell of today were the same.
The second sign is the new buds on the trees and the spring flowers. The purple crocuses were out a week or two ago, over the Easter weekend, but it was so rainy and windy and cold that I didn't take pictures. Today I could hunker down and get close so that you can see the fuzzy stalk and the almost sparkly purple lines on the petals. Enlarge the picture!
The yellow flower is like a buttercup, but not quite. It has a shiny surface that gleams in the sun.
I love the way these flowers just burst out of the earth, not in a cultivated and well fertilized bed, but they just push their way through the dead pine needles and old branches, and struggle to face the sun. Nature is quite a marvel.
This is a comforting smell. It's the hot sun, a sign that we made it though another winter, that hot sun beating down on the dry earth. It kind of reminds me of being a kid again, and lying on a straw bale, thumping it and watching the chaff rise and spin in the hot sun. I don't think I ever actually did that, but if I did, then the smell of that and the smell of today were the same.
The second sign is the new buds on the trees and the spring flowers. The purple crocuses were out a week or two ago, over the Easter weekend, but it was so rainy and windy and cold that I didn't take pictures. Today I could hunker down and get close so that you can see the fuzzy stalk and the almost sparkly purple lines on the petals. Enlarge the picture!
The yellow flower is like a buttercup, but not quite. It has a shiny surface that gleams in the sun.
I love the way these flowers just burst out of the earth, not in a cultivated and well fertilized bed, but they just push their way through the dead pine needles and old branches, and struggle to face the sun. Nature is quite a marvel.
2 comments:
Beautiful shots! Thanks for sharing :)Any yellowbells out yet? Those were MY favorites as a child.
I LOVE your writing. Your detailed descriptions of these wonderful experiences, followed by the qualifier, "Im not sure if I ever actually did that as a child" are too funny. You definitely have a beautiful way with words and a fabulous sense of humour.
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