Saturday 4 May 2013

It’s true,


there is life after winter.
I am beside myself with joy,
drunk on sunshine,
fresh air,
and hard work.


 Just look at that lovely, crumbly, compost waiting to be spread.
Gardener has emptied the compost bins
and there are dozens of such loads ready to sweeten the ground.


 Daffodils and cherry blossom,
need I say more?


 Another corner under cultivation.
Weeding and snipping and pruning and propping.
The joy is endless.


Beloved keeps the tea coming.
Millie can’t believe her luck;
this is her first spring with us and she has a wonderful garden
as well as a river on the doorstep.
All her very own.

It’s all good.

51 comments:

  1. Oh, Friko! I really understand! We were out today and I almost want to leap across the yard.

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  2. Friko, I can just feel your springy joy leaping from the pages! The daffodils and the cherry blossoms..... ah how I miss the southern area of Oz whence I came.... alas the tropics do not hold the same joy as a temperate Spring! Millie will be beside herself!
    It will be lovely to watch your garden grow and to see what antics Millie gets up to.

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  3. Absolutely lovely...you won't be worrying so much about the open day now, I suspect.
    As long as the tea keeps on coming....

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  4. smiles...i am glad you are enjoying it...we have much more winter like conditions here today...ok so maybe autumn...high 40s low 50s...i was getting spoiled by the heat...and sun...so i am living vicariously through you today...ha

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  5. What a wonderful post. Just love your enthusiasm. I'm still waiting to dig in, weather permitting...

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  6. After the winter-without-end you deserve this! I've just taken a break from the garden, where I've been for four hours now, weeding and trimming and tidying. Planting will come later. The air smells of magnolia and I am drunk on it.

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  7. It is all good indeed. I am thrilled for you. I can imagine how good it felt to get out there and did in the dirt again. Even better, it must be shear heaven to see the trees and all the flowers in bloom. We still have cold weather here. In fact, it snowed on May 1 and May 2.

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  8. Yay, spring! Saw a fox family yesterday, and the bluebirds and tree swallows seem serious about their nesting. Made a start on our little veg plot as well. Thought of you and your garden--I'm afraid ours is more than a bit of a mess, but no matter. It's spring, hooray!

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  9. I'm so happy that the sun reappeared for you. There were rumours that it was gone forever.

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  10. Lucky you with all that lovely compost. Enjoy!

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  11. Millie is so lucky to have her very own yard and river, and I am glad you are dazzled by the warmth.

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  12. What a beautiful setting. You are blessed!

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  13. You sound so happy Friko - getting warm and cozy at last, inside and outside, body and soul! Enjoy the season - the garden looks beautiful and promising more! :-)

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  14. I am in exactly the same state as you. Waking up anytime from 4.0 am just so excited to get out there and have fun!!!
    The smell and sound first thing before the world is awake: the freshness of the dew with the promise of sun later. Being able to remove clothing and still feel warm. The power of Nature emerging from the Winter. I am head over heels in love with the outside at the moment.

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  15. Outside, with the sun on our shoulders. It doesn't get much better.

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  16. Hi Friko .. it does look good - so pleased Gardener gets his tea breaks! A necessary part of the day .. community spirit and gossip catch up, as well as advice/discussion re the next jobs. That compost does look quite darkly wonderful - chocolate to the plants ...

    Millie must be in paradise though .. and probably can't believe her luck .. no wonder she has to stop and chat with friends along her walking way ..

    Thank goodness the light and sun is with us .. and that warmer days are ahead .. watching the leaves on the trees spring into life .. the candelabra of the horse chestnut .. and the bluebells are out .. just a wondrous time ..

    Cheers Hilary

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  17. hier moet je heerlijk van genieten.

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  18. You had to live through that long hard winter to experience this joy. This is really the season for you. It's when you come back to life. I am so happy for you!

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  19. Ah! Finally it's arrived. I knew it would, but it sure took its time getting there, it seems. Very uplifting post, Friko. :-)

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  20. I'm in heaven myself. Went to the city with my sister on Friday to go to to all three of the small nurseries in my city neighborhood and came home with even more plants that I have no idea where to put. I'll be digging and expanding gardens today.

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  21. It always feels like the first time, doesn't it? Lovely post.

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  22. You're right. It IS all good. And it makes me want to step right into those lovely photos and visit you,

    =)

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  23. I love this time of the year. Your garden is looking good.

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  24. You have had such a wet and gloomy winter and I just knew that when spring arrived, as it always does, you would be in elegant mode. You have such a lovely yard!

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  25. Ah I'm with you. I found out recently that the reason my lawn is so blue in spring (covered with forget me nots) that someone brought the plants in from Ireland on a boat over 100 years ago and planted them and they took over the lawn as they are not natural to here.

    I was delighted. I had wondered.

    Love what you're doing to the garden!!

    XO
    WWW

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  26. I think that life and energy wells up from deep within the human soul when spring comes - it's not just the earth that comes to life.
    Your garden looks so fresh. Wonderful compost. We battle with clay here and slowly, slowly, the soil is being amended.
    Oh joy to be out in the garden. Once I'm out there I hate to come back indoors.

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  27. Wow - it seems you just had snow on the ground. Your garden has really started to grow! Wish I could join you in the dirt.

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  28. Such joy! My cherry tree is already covered in green leaves; the period of cherry blossoms lighting up my kitchen window was very brief this year.

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  29. This all looks so very bright and spring-y! Your garden looks all set; looking forward to seeing more pictures. Enjoy!

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  30. What a difference a couple of weeks makes. Your spring colours and sunshine are lovely. I spent a couple of days last week doing my last big weed and prune before we leave. Hopefully, everything will go to sleep and there won't be too much work when we get home. If we end up zorbing in NZ, I shall think of you :) Hugs to the lucky dog x

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  31. Of course, I love all your photos here because I just adore seeing part of your word. But the last one really makes me smile -- How divine to sit with your Beloved in the sun, enjoying tea and with your sweet Millie. She is indeed lucky dog and you look like a wonderful family together.

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  32. Thank you for sharing a day in your lovely surroundings. Very tranquil and pretty.
    Maggie x

    Nuts in May

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  33. And a very happy spring it is!! Your gardens are opening their arms to welcome it. All of this seems more remarkable to many of us after the winter we have survived. I think we are almost a month behind but did manage to play in the dirt yesterday setting new onion plants in and sowing spinach seeds. Let gardening begin!!!

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  34. Lovely! Spring has come with a vengeance. Isn't it heavenly to get your hands in the dirt?

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  35. It's like taking a nice, deep breath of spring air.

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  36. It's the best kind of day, isn't it? I forget how wonderful until it comes around again the next year.

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  37. Oh yes! I have had one corner of the garden untended for a decade, assuming that a chicken house and occupants would show up there. But they haven't, and now I have a new blueberry bed. I stare at it as though it were as neat as chickens. It is. Spring.

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  38. Oh yes - how delightful! I love the return of the light and sun.

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  39. Wonderful, Friko. Your joy is tangible. :-) Incidentally I'm amazed at how gorgeous your weather was on Saturday, given that you live not so very many miles away from me. Here it was cloudy and cool all day. Sigh....

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  40. Oh! Lucky, lucky Millie.
    I know exactly how you feel with the sunshine and the smell of good dirt. I spent a couple of days being positively high on spring. Now I've settled in with a quiet satisfaction and contentment.

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  41. Dear Friko, what a lovely backyard and garden. I've lived in this house for four years--come June--and planted only a shrub garden. But last night, when I couldn't get to sleep, I realized that I wanted a perennial garden in the back yard and so I began to plan and plot and scheme just how I'll do this. Exciting! Peace.

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  42. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. In spring a young man's fancy may turn to love, but an old woman's turns to her garden compost. Love it. Dianne

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  43. I love it
    compost and the manure a friend
    sent for my 3 year old garden.
    Life is good...

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  44. Mmmmmm, I can almost smell that pungent dirt and the fragrant spring air. I wish my garden looked half as lush as yours!

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  45. What a joyous post. Spring is a time for optimism and how can one not fail to feel hopeful when life is abundantly growing.

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  46. Hallo Friko,
    wahrscheinlich passt auch der englische Spruch, den ich so kenne: my home is my castle. Garten, Eigentum, eigenes Haus, das hat wahrscheinlich in GB denselben Stellenwert wie in D. Ist ja auch gut so: man genießt die Natur im eigenen Garten und man fühlt sich wohl um sein eigenes Haus herum.

    Gruß Dieter

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  47. Sadly, I think that one day was spring (and summer). *sigh*

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  48. What a happy post. I find myself reveling in the very same thing on this side of the pond. Wish we were close enough to walk each other's little bits of paradise!

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  49. Sweet doggy landed in a pot of jam, and with lovely humans! I love waif stories with happy endings!

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  50. aaahh home grown compost nothing like it!
    Love Leanne

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