Category: Spring

#1232 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Spring1 Comment

Pondering the Spring or Vernal Equinox with a dark image of  Spring while listening to the dawn chorus with the first caffeinated cup of tea of the day. I hardly have a rock and roll lifestyle, but I am nursing a small lack-of-caffeine headache, so there is a touch of angst in my early morning perfection. But with proper darkness into a light celebration of the Vernal Equinox, I have another vase of spring flowers to illustrate this blog of the changing season.

Aesthetically the womanliness of this vase is the star of this image.

Happy Vernal Equinox to those in the Northern Hemisphere. Happy Friday to all.

#1231 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Concatenation, Spring1 Comment

It doesn’t take much consistent Springiness to make me adopt Springlike behaviour. No coat for most dog walks this week, sometimes regrettable.

Early morning bud watch in the yard. Coffee in hand. Page turning moments while reading pruning guides with the last cup of tea before bed.

And the urge to book tickets for outdoor events.

After last week’s success at a Silent Disco, the bobbers are planning another Dry Bob at the Tinside Lido soon. A Silent Disco at a swimming pool. How appropriate is that?

Spring is really in the air.

#1226 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Spring2 Comments

I sense that I have hit visceral Spring in the last couple of days. Caught between  Climatological Spring on the 1st of March and Astronomical  Spring on the 20th of March. I am both behind the game and ahead of it at the same time. Actual Spring Cleaning occurred yesterday. I am on the steps of pastel colours and fresh greens that ultimately lead to summer.

Summer and Winter Solstices are the big ticket events but I think I prefer the softer transitions into Spring and autumn.

Visceral Spring is an entirely emotional and personal response. The point when layers of clothes become intolerable and my feet protest at the thought of socks and boots. Visceral Spring is not without discomfort. Toes in sandals are nipped by 1 degree temperatures and cold winds find their way into spaces where thermal underwear is missing but that discomfort is my small celebration that winter really is behind me, and that is a good thing for a winterphobic soul. Even one who has done her very best to find the positive in the dark months.

Time to lay a tribute on the steps towards Spring, Summer and Autumn. Longer days and sunlight.

#1228 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Spring1 Comment

Two weeks ago we bought two bunches of tight budded daffodils at a  reduced price of 49 pence each bunch because they were past their sell by date. Two weeks on they are in full bloom and are gorgeous double headed daffodils. Not past their sell by date at all.

There were no such delightful bargains to be had today.

#1225 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Art for sale, Spring, StonehouseLeave a comment
Drakes Island, Firestone Bay. © theoldmortuary

We said farewell to some neighbours yesterday. The weather was kind for their last day of having a home near Firestone Bay. They are headed for Yorkshire. A place with a very different sort of beauty.

Meanwhile we have discovered that we have some foxy neighbours who have taken to visiting our yard at nighttime. Leaving a pungent calling card of foxy odour.

Foxy neighbours and their fragrances are not unknown to us. The picture below was a regular occurrence in our London garden .

Some neighbours are more welcome than others.

#517 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Spring1 Comment

The first day of Spring washed in on a wave of persistent, penetrative rain.

Drips were the tiny gems of the day hanging around waiting to catch the sunbeams that resolutely failed to arrive.

Raindrops when gathered together turn into puddles. So one puddle two ways is the endpoint of this blog. It is a puddle we have been to before, but the alternative, a variety of shots of room settings at Ikea is one step too far for a blog that has no problem celebrating the mundane. IKEA is almost a global experience, all around the world people were sat in IKEA cafes, at the exact same time as me, pondering on their various domestic needs. Ours were simple and we managed the, almost impossible, task of getting out with only one extra item. A tool to fish spaghetti out of bowls or saucepans.

The first day of Spring, raindrops, puddles and IKEA.

#150 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SpringLeave a comment

A late published blog because the early morning ran away with me and then serendipity took me in a different direction. I am 10 days into a virus that is not Covid. Every day the test(s) come back negative. It is however quite the worst cold I have ever had and it has robbed me of energy, lung and brain function and I have absolutely no sense of taste and smell. The picture above exactly conjours up my eating and drinking life currently. It is the inside of a cherry and almond puff. I know that on my tongue there should be the sweet blend of pastry, lemon, cherry and almond all in separate sharp clarity. As depicted, luckily, by the sharp red and yellow colours in the centre of the picture.

What could I actually taste? Maybe a sensation of staleness and indistinct wooliness as depicted by the blurry edges of the pastry. What a disappintment!

Taste and smell blunted I set off on a car journey and listened to the radio. All well and good you might think but clearly without taste and smell some other senses are upping their game. Despite having seen the news reports of the return of two Iranian hostages I was quite unprepared for the audio file of the families reunions, something done in private and away from official cameras.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10622561/Nazanin-Zaghari-Ratcliffes-daughter-slept-reunited-parents.html#v-6031229203077808800

Only the audiofile reveals the tears of the hostages and their families as they are reunited. I became a weepy, damp, mess and pulled over into a layby to sort myself out and continue to drive safely. The layby was gloriously filled with roadside daffodils. They were my salvation.

Definately something to lift the spirits and stop some random in-car blubbing. But serendipity stepped in to make the morning even more special. A sleepy newly emerged bee.

Who scrambled onto the edge of a daffodil and promptly fell asleep in the sun.

Which was just what I needed to sort myself out and drive on. An unexpected start to a very ordinary day.

#137 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn flowers, SpringLeave a comment
©Debs Bobber

How does Spring taste to you?

Not a question normally asked, of course,but one that is very important to a canine friend of ours.

Ralph likes to lick flowers. Here he is savouring, the very expensive, flavour of Saffron, from the stigma of Crocus.

©Debs Bobber

Most of us know exactly what he is getting from the experience. But how many humans have ever tasted Daffodil, how many of us even bother to sniff them? Would it even be safe to lick, especially if taken to excess?

©Debs Bobber

Here is Ralph at his version of an all you can eat buffet.

©Debs Bobber

So many Bluebells, so little time, how is a man to choose?

©Debs Bobber

I’m fairly certain I am not going to go down the whole tasting thing with Ralph. Let me be honest, I know exactly what Other thing Ralph and my dogs do to flowers, but this Spring, after consideration of the location and risk analysis, I am going to sniff more Spring Flowers. What have I been missing?

Pandemic Pondering #359

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SpringLeave a comment

The middle of March is a curiously yellow kind of time. After a year of restrictions this March seems even yellower than usual. I checked back through my image file of the last few years and found some lovely yellows. Not just the obvious daffodils but all sorts of yelliw things to make me smile. I think it must be the quality of the light in March that makes yellow so vibrant. This commuting image is my first offering.

Tower Bridge from London Bridge
6 AM

Even yellow underfoot seems brighter in March.

Yellow daffodils were the thing that seemed particularly vibrant yesterday. It must be a wrinkle or crinkle in my thinking though that makes this year seem especially bright because I have loads of lovely yellows from past years. I think previously I have not been quite so desperate to shake off winter and celebrate the coming of Spring. This is quite a statement as beyond Christmas I see no real value or purpose in Winter ever. So I’m always desperate to find signs of Spring. I just hadn’t realised until yesterday quite how pathetically desperate I was to leave winter behind me in 2021.

Sadly a yellow all-in-one covering a snuggly person is no longer on my signs of spring agenda.

But gorgeous yellow, empty beaches have a very positive effect on seeing the bright side.

Closer to home there is always a naughty dog to bring some yellow to the party. Even if there is no party!