Is what I believe the hawthorn tree would say as I ran past her today, she looked immensely proud of her freshly sprouted spring blossom adorning and warming her once naked arms.
Dazzling white and pure the petals stood out with vibrancy and determination amongst the other trees which are all still mostly shades of grey and brown with just the tiniest aura of green beginning to appear on the periphery.
A clear and powerful sign that spring has well and truly sprung. The wind has finally ceased and everything is so still and calm, the complete opposite of just a couple of weeks ago when our Great British landscape was overwhelmed by the brutal, intimidating weather, buffeting and bullying our countryside.
Yet today, all is forgiven and only peace and tranquility reside here leaving us with an atmosphere of crystal clear clarity. Through this calm spring air sounds are resonating brilliantly, allowing my hearing to reach far and wide to the warbling of so many beautiful birds, the squabbling spring lambs and of course my raucous naughty dogs.
Patient budding leaves on every branch, new shoots of vibrant grass have all come out of hiding, they’re still in no rush, peeking out tentatively, only too aware of how unpredictable and badly behaved our weather can be, yet waking up just the same.
You can almost hear them say “has it gone, is it clear, can we come out yet?”
Just peeping through to check that there are no hidden surprises, for now!
On the path ways today protrusions of bare branches were poking forcefully out at me as I wandered past, like spiny fingers grappling at space, and on the very tip of each branch was the most magnificent budding jewel.
The trees “precious” has emerged.
It has been nurturing and caring for it under wraps throughout the harsh winter, until now with the weather in agreeance, allows the precious to blossom and reveal its true power.
Everything on this soggy April morning is speaking the same language, the conversation of growth, energy and transition, so much life force and colour is brimming and brewing, even though we don’t quite have the back drop of blue skies and warm sun just yet.
As I walk through this corridor of bleak and bland, the colours are changing, just like a shade chart flowing through the deep russet reds and golds moving over to the chestnut browns and ochres then varying shades of grey, but not quite fifty! finally stretching gracefully into fresh greens and zingy whites, their vibrancy is dappling through the muted colours of winter and is so beautiful to observe. And it’s happening so fast, this palette of colour changes every day and becomes more in depth, more confident, more spring like.
Great eruptions of colour are blasting their way into the subdued hedgerows like silent explosions hitting my eyesight with full force and vitality, and shocking my senses with their speed, buds one minute then blossom the next.
As we approach the final trimester of spring the scene is unfolding and colour is beginning to fill the gaps of our sparse trees and bare earth.
Nature is dipping sporadically at the spring colour palette and splatting great blotches of brilliance amongst the black, white and sepia frameworks of the naked trees and dead seed heads, almost as if it has ditched the common two dimensional ” dot to dot “art work and has now opted for full on “colour by numbers”.
It’s working because these surging shocks of new colour and texture are so refreshing to feast on after a harsh barren winter.
Nothing stays the same for very long in spring, it must be because there is so much to do and so little time, especially as Winter quite spectacularly hogged a huge chunk of springs time frame, it feels almost hurried as it pushes through in order to complete what is programmed deep in their DNA, to survive then reproduce.
The weather is replicating this hurried season as we’ve had rain, snow, hail, wind all intermittently dispersed with rays of sunshine, then rain again very often all in one day.
These April showers are fun and exciting and sometimes very annoying, but essential to nourish this ferocious growth, and every time they appear I can’t help but think of the movie Bambi!!
Drip, drip, drop
Little April shower
Beating a tune as you fall all around
Drip, drip, drop
Little April shower
What can compare to your beautiful sound?
What indeed!
Well the refurbishment is almost done the full force of spring is very nearly upon us, and I have to say the reveal is magnificent, go take a peek!!
Until next time, have fun!
Xxx