It’s a grey and drizzly day on the wet West coast where we make our home, and on a day like today it’s hard to believe that Spring really is just around the corner. However, the subtle signs are everywhere, whispering that the season is just about to change.
To begin, the hours of daylight are very slightly different. For those of you who live closer to the waist of the earth, that may not sound like headline news, but for those of us who are farther North, light, or more properly, the lack of it, is a daily conversation. Through the darkest weeks of the year, the sun doesn’t rise until eight in the morning, and has disappeared again by four-thirty in the afternoon. Here it is, only a month past the Winter solstice and already the sun has relented just enough to light the way to school for the kids. It’s a happy thing!
We’re not the only ones that have noticed that the light is starting to come back to our side of the Earth… It’ll sound funny, but the squirrels about the neighborhood are showing the first signs of Spring Fever! I watched out the kitchen window last weekend, laughing out loud, as what seemed like wild herds of Squirrels scurried back and forth across the front veranda. I’m not sure what they were doing, (what happens in the front yard, stays in the front yard) … but whatever it was, it involved a lot of frantic chasing, fluffing of tails and chattering.
Meanwhile, Our elderly cat, Cookie was keeping a close eye on their dodgy proceedings, hustling determinedly along behind them each time they crossed the porch. I would be concerned for the squirrels safety, but fortunately Cookie no longer poses any real threat to the garden creatures.
Of course, there are other signs about the garden of the coming change in seasons… The Willows are blooming long acid green trailing blossoms… the hazels are, too – some of them very tidy, like newborn pinecones, others more
showy, looking for all the world like microscopic displays of fireworks. Everywhere that I look I see the promise of flowers to come. In the case of the snowdrops, promise is perhaps the wrong word – they are already up, out and in full bloom. The Crocus won’t be far behind, though they seem to pop out of the ground already in bloom, as if they think they’re running late. The Tulips are pushing their lush green leaves out the soil, as are the daffodils, hyacinths and even daylilies! I expected to see the Spring bulbs up and around, but I was surprised to see the Summer ones too.
The Troll Anemone Pendant, in full bloom here on a Sterling Foxtail Bracelet
Clockwise from clasp: “Heaven Crane Lock”, “Unique Glass”, “Birds of a Feather, Small”, “Pink Gold”, “Wise Bamboo”, “Ornamental Flower Bead”, “Floral Wishes Bead”, “Crown Chakra”, “Healing Heart”, “Troll With Big Feet”, “Blossom Shade”, “Diamond Bead with Gold Core”, “Meditation Bead”, “Soft Wind of Change Orb Bead”, “Fragile Purity”, “Silver Trace, Gold”, “Rainbow Bridge”, “Trinity”, “Engraved Romance”, “Light Blue Gold”, “Fan of Kindness”, “Rosa Pearl”.
I know that in other parts of the continent, people are still cleaning up after the recent snowstorm, but here, after our grey months, I’m so grateful to be looking forward to the first days of Spring!
C.
Today I enjoyed a day of mid winter brilliant sunshine here at Tartooful… We went for our morning trail walk along the creek close to our home, and the combination of pure blue sky and rich green forest was absolutely magical! It’s been a wonderful experience to get to know the forest in an intimate way over the past six months, as we have walked the same trail over and over through the changing of the seasons. When we started our daily trail walks it was the height of Summer, with warm, dawns that broke at five in the morning.
The midsummer forest was lush and brilliant emerald green, with soft leaves filling the branches of the birch that line the creek. The trail was dusty and stayed on my skin and in my nostrils long after we had gone on with the rest of our day. Over the weeks my feet came to know every rock, and every turn of the trail. Just when I thought I had it’s path fully memorized the season began to turn to Autumn and it became a completely different place again. With the arrival of the rains the paths first became hard and wet… then became sodden in low places and occasionally even became little creeks!
When the leaves first started to fall it felt strange, how messy, and brown our little stretch of forest was becoming… but then the light began to change and the beauty of the Autumnal forest became more clear. With every leaf that dropped, the floor of the forest became a little more brightly illuminated, and little treasures became visible in every nook and cranny. Fall blooming crocus peeked through here, a patch of brilliant yellow mushrooms there… even the slugs seemed taken aback by the sudden bright light!
tartooful 