Sunday, 20 March 2011

We've Made It Through Another Winter

"Come, sweetheart, listen, for I have a thing
Most wonderful to tell you, news of Spring".



Chaenomeles flowering on a sun-kissed, sheltered wall.


One more sleep and then it's official: it's Spring. Every year on this day Beloved and I congratulate ourselves and each other that we've made it through another winter. Winters are hard for me, I need daylight to keep the black dogs of depression at bay; although Beloved doesn't suffer from SAD he too is always very glad to see the lengthening days and feel the ever more warming rays of the sun.



"The loveliest flowers the closest cling to earth, And they first feel the sun".



Miniature Tulips



Miniature Daffodils




The leaves of this red Euphorbia glow in the sun.





And so do gardener and I, back in the kitchen, after a full day working outside.



Quotations:
The Miracle by John Drinkwater
Spring Flowers by John Keble


32 comments:

  1. your spring looks beautiful...yay spring!

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  2. After spending yesterday weeding and cleaning I looked beyond the flowers. My eye went straight to the earth - beautifully turned and weed-free - and I was envious!
    Today promises sun, but it is very cold. I looked back on a post from a year ago and see that we were then awash in blossoms. We are about a month behind this year.

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  3. The first picture is breathtaking, Friko! And all of them are wonderful harbingers of spring, happening today in the PNW at 4:21 pm. Yes, it's spring!!! yayy, we made it!

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  4. Sigh.. it's finally arrived.

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  5. Oh what wonderful photo's of those beautiful flowers and a lovely spring smile too!

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  6. You are quite the photographer, capturing the light in the flowers.

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  7. Yes! First day of Spring today! Your pictures are lovely Friko - especially Gardener! Phew! I'm so glad he had a reprieve last year :0)

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  8. Your quince is flowering early - we have no buds on ours yet. Today I spotted the first violets and my son-in-law discovered frogspawn in our pond.

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  9. How lovely! Spring flowers are my absolute favorites, and you have an abundance!

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  10. nothing better than a good workout in the garden when spring finally arrives.

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  11. So glad that spring is coming now - tentatively, but when I saw hundreds of geese flying back north I am convinced its coming nearer quickly.

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  12. Love to get this "advance notice" of spring, as we are a bit behind you weather-wise. Hooray!!!!

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  13. Your photos speak of a wonderful awakening ...in the garden and in your heart. Enjoy as our daylight hours decrease and the sun loses it's warmth.

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  14. and I bet both Beloved and Gardener are happier when you are happy.

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  15. Thanks for sharing your beautiful flower photos! Thanks also for visiting our new blog!

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  16. I would truly leap for joy if my yard had colors such as you have captured...I will stare at your images and try to ignore the cold, icy rain that is falling outside my windows. I think we still have a bit of winter to get through here.
    Thank you for providing hope that Spring will arrive!

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  17. The sun on one's back is a marvellous thing - and must always have been so. At least now we have the benefits of electric light and heated homes to bear us through the darkest days of winter. Lengthening days do lift spirits though and how lovely it is to see colour again.

    Your Chaenomeles I'd fabulous - mine is still thinking about it!

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  18. Oh, those tulips! I'm a vernal equinox kind of girl, I am.

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  19. These flowers are glorious! And yes, they come with the first days of spring... I, too, feel a little bit more alive, younger, springier, when spring is unmistakably here! "When lilacs 'first' in the dooryard bloomed..."

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  20. I came over to say Hi Friko and was greeted by your spring garden. What a treat. It leaves me with a twirly whirly feeling when I return to our big patches of ice. I need patience.
    Love and peace to you and Beloved.

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  21. your glorious photos and well chosen words made me feel the winter in my bones and celebrate once more the birth of Spring!


    Warm Aloha to you
    from Honolulu!


    Comfort Spiral

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    ><}}(°>

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  22. Here , the sun's just shone two days in a row so everything might begin to unfurl , at last .
    Meanwhile , thankyou for sharing your gorgeous flowers with us !

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  23. ich freue mich, weitere Bilder von Deinem herrlichen Garten zu sehen. Die Bilder sind tatsächlich eine wunderbare Einladung in den lang erwarteten Frühling!

    Dir einen recht schönen Tag, liebe Friko!

    Renée

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  24. At Last - it's been such a long time coming this year.

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  25. Spring is such a heart lifting moment. I think we should make our annual resolutions now and not in the depths of gloom.
    Reading down your blog made me remember school trips every summer to see Shakespeare at the Castle and then fish and chips in a wonderful Tudor building. Such a contrast to the Black Country town I grew up in.I now do live in the hills but in the next county to you

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  26. Beautiful pics. How I wish I had a gardener. Yesterday Jerry mowed the lawn with the riding mower and ran over a lot of white hyacinths. But the lawn looks better.

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  27. Happy Spring! Happy Friko!

    Please clarify: Did you not understand my nouvelle 55 genre, or the piece I wrote?

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  28. Ah, you've just solved a mystery for me! A friend and I saw and photographed Chaenomeles on Saturday. We had wondered what kind of flower these were.

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  29. And the sun continues to shine even today - spring is really coming at last. Not many flowers here and the deer have eaten the crocuses, so it is a case of waiting patiently. Every Blessing

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  30. Where's the picture of glowing you?

    I also have miniature daffodils, tulips and irises, and I have finally got past that early March greediness for sun and warmth. I am happy now to watch it all happen in its own good time. (Though that is probably because the weather has been kind; I'll be grumpy all over again if we go back to bitter winds from the north and east; rain I'll forgive.)

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  31. Immersing myself in your world this morning, and it blesses.
    Thank you.
    We had a few days of "normal" spring and now sit under a frozen white limbo again. sigh.

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  32. We have had spring for several days here already. I wish I had some pretty flowers in my garden like you have. Our azalea bushes are starting to come out though as the dogwood trees. Without a “proper” garden I like to visit public ones and we have several close-by. Your picture of the chaenomeles is quite pretty – I did not know it was their name.

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