According to my old friend Dancing Beastie, spring is sprung. Another old friend, Sian , of Life on a Small Island, concurs with her opinion.
Bear in mind that both these blogs hail from north of the Border and, very unusually, Scotland has on the whole had a much milder winter than the rest of the UK
But now it’s official. Here on the Welsh hilltop that the Transit family call home (that is, when they stop all this moving about) spring has finally arrived. There are primroses in the hedgerows up the hill from the village and even one or two in our very exposed back garden. The birds are working themselves into a frenzy of nest-building and even I, as you know, have been spring-cleaning.
Best of all, for all of us who prefer light to darkness, the days are rapidly getting longer and today, according to the BBC weather page, sunset here won’t be until 6pm. Oh, we may still get snow if we’re unlucky, and certainly frost won’t disappear for months yet. Nevertheless, winter is over, new life is springing up everywhere and I think that calls for a little music, courtesy of a clip I was treated to recently on a new friend’s blog from Some Other Mountain. Thanks, Molly.
Image via Wikipedia
I remember how I used to look forward to the first signs of Spring when in Europe....an end to the darkness, an end to the cold and so much about to happen to give delight.
ReplyDeleteWell, the darkness is definitely going, Fly, though the cold is back with us at the moment. But with coltsfoot and celandine joining the primroses on the banks, there is plenty already giving delight. Do you miss the four seasons in Costa Rica, I wonder?
DeleteLovely music and lovely visuals too, Thanks for that Perpetua.
ReplyDeleteI think I have heard the music before, as a background to a TV play or series fairly recently. Rather haunting.
Here, the weather is playing 'silly beggars'. Yesterday we had pouring rain (much needed), all day, and today we woke to frost and the day is now brilliantly sunny and absolutely freezing.
Oh well, it is England after all.
Glad you like them too, Ray. I think it's a really beautiful little video and I've watched it several times already. So restful and yet hopeful. The music sounds a bit familiar, but I don't have a very good auditory memory.
Delete'Silly beggars' about sums up the weather at the moment. So much colder than last week, but hey, it's March!
What lovely images and music. Yes, today it does feel as if spring is here. Those Calder valley crows are going crazy, dragging huge twigs.... well, practically branches, up into the tree tops to reinforce last year's nests, and I've been for 2 walksI wonder what tomorrow will bring.
ReplyDeleteAren't they lovely, Janice? I'm glad Molly posted the clip on her blog, as I've enjoyed watching it so much. No crows in our trees, but the blackbirds and magpies are much in evidence as are some of the smaller birds like the bluetits, which nest in the wall of our barn.
DeleteDo you have a dog to take you for all these healthy walks? Perhaps I should get one. :-) As for tomorrow's weather - who knows?
I love Spring. My favourite time of the year whether in the UK or Turkey. Unfortunately we keep getting false starts here. A couple of lovely days when I am sure Spring has arrived, only to be followed by a drop in temperature and rain. I've never known the weather here to be like this in March. The blossom is appearing on the trees, but it almost looks like it's not supposed to be there yet.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on spring as my favourite season, Ayak. So much new life, so much rapidly changing beauty. But the weather can change just as fast and we seem to have gone from winter to spring and almost back to winter again within a week. You certainly seem to be having some very unusual weather in Turkey in recent months.
DeleteThe Thames Valley has been Baltic for the past couple of days, and I am jealous to read that some have primroses, flowers of any description, or even heat! My daffodils are in bud, and that's about all. In fact, it's been so windy here that my plans to plant out some tomato seeds (for indoor germination: I'm not silly!) have been scuppered because the seed trays TH prepared last weekend ready for the seeds have been blown away up the garden before I could bring them in!! It's sunny out, but I'm sooooo cold!
ReplyDeleteI think someone's turned the British Isles upside-down and not told us, CB. Dancing Beastie and Sian are posting gorgeous photos of all their spring flowers, while your southerly garden is still in hibernation. Our daffs are still in bud, if that's any consolation, though they are fully out down in the valley. Have you corralled your wandering seed trays yet?
DeleteA lovely post, Perpetua. 'Joys of Spring' or looking at it another way -'Springs of Joy' (like Mary Webb's book of poems.) Yes, primroses out all along the bank and bluebells already pushing through. The weather's still a bit deceptive - we had light snow on the hills on Sunday but isn't it great that the days are lengthening. Glad you've put the video up on your site for more folks to enjoy - thank you too. I love playing it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Molly. After two recent posts grumbling about Blogger's deficiencies, it was high time for something more positive. :-) The primroses have come in a real rush this week along with many of the other yellow spring flowers. A touch of blue will make a nice change eventually. No snow at this end of Montgomeryshire, though it's a lot colder.
DeleteI was really pleased to have discovered the video on your blog and thought it deserved as wide an audience as possible.
I have a feeling we may live just down the road from each other. I live about 5 miles east of Welshpool
DeleteIt's a small world, Molly. I'm about the same distance from Llanidloes. :-)
DeleteIsn't it strange, this upside-down Spring? Not that I'm complaining here in sunny Scotland! And thank you very much for the wee plug, by the way. We had a sharp frost last night but the horse chestnut is bursting with life and the birds are carolling their spring songs...bliss.
ReplyDeleteVery odd indeed, DB. Down here the arrival of spring is a bit like the tide coming in, two steps forward and one back. No thanks, needed, BTW. It's my pleasure to point people towards a blog I enjoy so much. :-)
DeleteSo long darkness and good riddance to you I say.
ReplyDeleteMy computer isn't playing any music?
Our springs are so short here in Oklahoma and I feel our too hot summers just around the corner, but first some good old-fashioned thunderstorms to remind us of how we're not in charge.
Hear, hear, Rubye. The winter evenings can seem attractive when they first arrive - all that time for reading and other things - but they certainly start to pall after a while. The seasons are usually the reverse in the UK - long spring and short summers, and we don't get many thunderstorms. Hope yours aren't too fierce for you.
DeleteI'm afraid I've no idea why the clip won't play for you. It's on YouTube, so should play fine in the US. Are you getting the visuals or is it a total non-starter? If the former, have you perhaps muted your sound? I sometimes do that and forget I've done it. :-)
Just what my winter weary soul needed today, Perpetua. Spring is always such a hopeful time, isn't it? Our bulbs peek out a bit more each day, but, spring is still a ways from us. I don't mind so much if it comes slowly, as long as it comes. We've had such an odd winter here, not ever having a sustained hard freeze, and March in the midwest can still bring lots of snow. I won't worry about that now, however. I'll just sit and stare at your lovely primroses.
ReplyDeleteSo glad it's given you a boost, Penny. I know from reading your blog that you've had an odd winter over there, but even if it hasn't been harsh, it's still been long and must be really starting to drag by March. I do hope your spring won't be too long in coming. We all need that season of hope and new life.
DeleteLiving in a place that has only two seasons...summer and summer with rain...I love to remember living in places that had all 4 seasons..spring being my very favorite because of that feeling of new life starting all around me. But, I guess for someone who loathes temperatures lower than 70F, the good Lord has put me in the right place for me. Smiles.
ReplyDeleteAstrid, I'm not sure I should show your comment to my darling mother-in-law,who is a heat-seeker like you, or we may find her wanting to emigrate at the age of 87! For myself, though the idea of only two seasons, summer and summer with rain, sounds wonderfully appealing when it's cold, grey and miserable here, I know I would miss the seasons, especially the spring, too much to live without them for ever. Horses for courses, as my mother always said.... :-)
DeleteDear Perpetua,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the haunting music and the springing of spring by the plants. We got up to the seventies here today. There's been no winter and I've missed it.
Happy spring!
Peace.
Thanks, Perpetua, just what I needed this morning! As I sit here in the early morning sun with the birds a-twittering away and the daffodils in a vase next to me, cheering me along, Spring can be felt 'springing' right along!
ReplyDeleteBTW the music is 'Elegy' from 11 Pieces for the Piano by Benjamin Dunnett and is available from Amazon UK for 7.49!
Any chance you will be in Southport for a brew before 11 April or after 3 May?
Thanks, Broad, glad to be of service. :-) I envy you your early morning sun. I woke at 7 to grey skies and rain again down here, though it has been very springlike at times recently.
DeleteMany thanks for the information about the composer. I found his website yesterday and discovered that he wrote 'Elegy' after his mother died. Unfortunately I don't yet (despite DH's attempts to persuade me) have an MP3 player, so can't buy the download at the moment.
We'll be in Southport at the end of the month as it happens, and having found your email link on your blog, I'll be in touch straight away
There are signs everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. Stunning views of wildflowers all over the hillsides.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds wonderful, Rosaria. From what I've read it sounds like your winter has been unusually mild in most parts of the US. The advent of spring is very patchy so far in the UK this year, whereas last year we had a most glorious and longlasting spring nationwide from mid-March onward.
DeleteThat was a welcome introduction to Spring - I love the film clip and the music. I never cease to marvel at the miracle of Spring. I love planting out apparently dry dead veg seed and have them grow into tall strong plants (weather permitting -sigh) and bear fruit with lots of goodies to see me through the winter. And thanks for the plug for my blog too :-)
ReplyDeleteSo do I, Sian. I keep popping back for another little lift. :-) In my vegetable gardening days I felt just the same as you and spent many happy hours in the potting shed or greenhouse at this time of year.AS for the plug, it's my pleasure. I always love your posts and photos.:-)
DeleteA little 'PP' moment for me here, Perpetua - a 'perfect Perpetua' moment!
ReplyDeleteWe still have a nip in the air here which is welcome as we can also feel the sun's heat starting to really get through. Washing dries quickly again these days!
Thanks
Axxx
LOL, Annie! Probably more of a perfect moment than a perfect Perpetua, I think. :-)
DeleteGosh, summer heat making itself felt already? How do you cope when summer really comes? It feels like that here when I'm in the conservatory and the sun's shining, but outside is still brrr!
Definitely spring here too - I'm cutting grass, sowing seeds and generally throwing soil in all directions. I love the sensation of lengthening daylight. God is in his heaven and all is right with the world. At least where the garden is concerned.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back from what sounds like a fantastic holiday, Jon. I can well imagine that after the Arctic weather you had in France last month, the return of spring is particularly welcome. Here in still chilly Mid-Wales the grass is only just starting to grow again, so I think I can postpone that first cut a little longer. :-)
DeleteLike the experience of numbers of your commenters Perpetua, this recent winter in Prague has been most peculiar with it being relatively mild & virtually snow-free until suddenly being hit by nearly three weeks of Siberian cold in February. Other than enjoying longer hours of daylight, Spring has yet to really show itself here. Our past experience is that when Spring does come, it is quite sudden but also quite short & we can move from Winter to Summer in no more than two weeks. See my post http://rickyyates.com/spring-comes-to-prague/ from April 2009.
ReplyDeleteRicky, though I wouldn't wish very cold weather on anyone, hopefully it will mean far fewer mosquitoes for you when the warm weather finally arrives. Having read your quoted post, I'm now happily imagining the beauty of Prague in the spring, especially in those glorious parks.
DeleteI'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to post directly to you about the award before you found it, Perpetua! I finished so late last night that I simply couldn't go on! I hope you'll just have some fun with it. It took me more than a month to get my post up, and even then I've somewhat made it my own according to what I can actually do in one sitting! There is NO pressure. I really enjoy each and every post you put up, but once in a while, it appears my replies don't "get through"--like this most recent post. I did reply, but I don't think you got it! All that matters here is that you know I read each one, thoroughly enjoy, and want my other friends to "find" you! Please make it easy on yourself, however. Here again is the link to the post so you can find it when you get ready to do soemthing with it! Debra http://breathelighter.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/am-i-talented-just-ask-a-preschooler/
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Debra, and I can assure you I will thoroughly enjoy doing my post, though I too will probably tweak it a bit. These things aren't set in stone and I often find different versions going around. As I've just said on your blog, I did get your comment on my latest post, but you posted as breathelighter rather than Debra. :-)
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