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Gone are the Daffodils
Did I see Summer coming?
[ 3 minute read ]
Spring is really exciting for me. I grow things in an expectation that the long and warm Summer days will profit their growth. Gone now is the wait in the dark Winter days. Gone are the clouds that shield the ground from the crazy sun we all know will cook us in just a couple of months. But also gone is the smell of leaf-mould and decay. We get used to those aromas in Autumn. We smell the fungi growing and releasing spores and then it freezes and everything lies still.
Spring gives surprises. The Muntjac deer that leave traces in my garden with their hoof prints where they scraped at the ground seeking roots, stand still with ears flicking this way and that. In my garden I left them acorns to munch on. The squirrels hid them. No matter, I wanted new oak trees, even though my garden is not big enough for even a ten year old one. The deer trim my Euonymus shrubs right back to the branches but they can't reach to the top. I took cuttings a couple of years ago, but the relentless Summers were not kind to me or the cuttings.
Finally, I am no longer jealous of my next-door-neighbour's poppies. They escaped from my front garden and I have never been able to gather seed from next door. The pods just never seem to mature. This year some of the seeds jumped backwards against the West wind and into a few of my plant-pots. I even brought one of them inside to help it grow, but it scorned me and bolted.
People try to enjoy the warmer weather with a determination that always amuses me. Sunglasses, shorts and bucket hats come out and are worn for a day or so. We all still know that we need to keep moving if we are dressed too scantily and we flip-flop between having our home heating on and off. Still our homes are our refuges. Few of us go out early in the morning and plan to be wearing the same clothes outside a pub at 9pm. Bicycles and their unpracticed riders wobble along cycle-paths and there is indecision on which side to pass and courage to be close to the kerb while remaining on the pavement is lacking. We haven't time to cheerfully call 'Good Morniing!' as we weigh up the movements of other riders.
Now we can see the phases of the moon and have excuses for our weirdness or the oddness of our partners; 'Ah, a full moon! I see.' It means we linger a while before we put a jumper or sweater on; for an hour or two chilled but hoping it will pass; but the clear night skies let the heat escape.
Spring is a season of new and fresh experiences. It is the shaking off of stagnation and decay and the wearing of hope and growth. It is a season in which we make plans and don't know we are doing it.