Spring Forth

It is the first day of Spring Down Under and the first day of September. Our soggy ground however doesn’t know this news yet. There are still places on our lawn where we sink down into the mud as we squish our way through to higher ground. Many bare patches of ground have appeared with no grass to absorb some of the moisture. But in time even those spots will have something sprouting from them. Two years ago that area had a deep crack in the parched dirt from a shifting earth underneath that dryness. So going from drought years to wet years has not been the easiest to navigate. All of us seem to be affected from the lowliest bug on up. But the frogs have sung the praises of the extensive ponds every night from dusk onward. So Spring has truly sprung forth to transform us yet again into a verdant wonderland.

My lagging spirits are always lifted in Spring and being in a colder climate than what I was born into, I’ve grown accustomed to the hardships of a real winter, that make life much more complicated than the winters I was used to, which were hardly more than a few seconds of cold in comparison. I actually thrive in a year with four distinct seasons and hardly miss the moderate winters and really hot summers of southern California. But I’ll never get used to the wind. That still throws me into a combination of fear, loathing and earaches to go along with sinus issues that create masterful headaches. But enough said. Spring has made everything more manageable, even the wind that usually picks up around 10 a.m. here and sometimes doesn’t stop until the next day. Right now however it’s still more of an annoying breeze distributing the cold air from the surrounding mountains still with a bit of snow on the peaks.

So I hope the photos here will lift the lagging spirits. It was not the easiest task today outside with the daffodils in particular dancing around with each small gust. But hopefully you’ll get the idea. I love nature. I love flowers. I love animals. I love life. And I’m very grateful to still be here in this luscious paradise that’s bursting with buds opening and birds singing and John building a new planter box for his saffron bulbs. Such is life now at the House of Cluck-Cluck. Pretty damn terrific at the moment.