The Cheat that is..

..Spring.

We woke up to glorious sunshine. What joy! There is something about sun streaming through the windows. It was as if summer was already here! Well, not quite summer, but spring is here for sure!

I made plans to pack away our winter coats – those horrid warm coats, without which life here is miserable in winter. But those coats also mean that half our clothes are hidden behind those voluminous coats, unless you are adventurous enough to do things like this. I think I will certainly be happy to leave behind the English winter for good! All you really want is sunny, gorgeous weather that makes your heart sing with joy.

With summer(and summer clothes) dancing in front of my eyes, I stepped out, dressed in my spring jacket, only to feel the cold hit me – and hit me bad. I did not have the time to change into something warmer – daughter thankfully was dressed more appropriately. I was sure that I would get warmer as we walked to school. In a few minutes, I realized that I was wrong – it was freezing. Daughter pulled out her gloves – yes, it was that cold. She, then, kept my fingers warm by holding on to them – she would change sides every so often – so that my other hand does not freeze. What did I ever do to deserve a child like this, I don’t know 🙂

By the time we reached school, I was freezing, despite all of daughter’s efforts, and all I could do was somehow walk back home, cursing myself, and promising myself that never again, am I going to be taken in by this deceptive weather!!!!!

It is still sunny, and gorgeous, but I refuse to get cheated again. I plan to step out fully prepared. But what do I know? In all probability, when I go dressed like an eskimo, it will be so warm that I will have to pull off layers 😦 I tell you, this spring is a big cheat!

PS: I also realized that ever since winter has been on it’s way out – I have also stopped checking the weather reports – it must be weather god’s way of teaching me a lesson.

Sunny, Sunny, Sunny Weather…

I have been itching to do a ‘Thursday Challenge’. And today’s topic – “GOLDEN” (Fields, Sun, Flowers, Hair, Gold,…) seemed perfect!

You see, we have been having the most gorgeous weather possible! Warm days, gorgeously sunny, happy days! Can’t believe our luck, to be honest. It is quite likely that I will be cursing the weather next week, but for now, we are soaking it in. People are out in summer wear, children in shorts,clotheslines sagging under the weight of clothes and barbeques out – to celebrate the unexpected sunny spell. I had never thought I would enjoy the sight of clothes drying on the clothesline so much. For me, it is a bonus to compensate for the summer that I missed this year!

To add to all the happiness that sunny weather brings, another sunflower bloomed in my garden! Remember how happy I was with the first one? Well, I can’t contain my excitement now, because I can see loads of buds sprouting out too! Icing on cake, don’t you think?

See those little buds waiting to bloom?

The first one – soaring high, turning her face towards the sun!

The other sunny flowers in my house – store bought ones, not the fruits of my labour, unfortunately.

All it needs is a summer cake to be baked. Orange cake sounds perfect, doesn’t it?

Give us some sunshine!

One of the things that make me happy is sunlight.

The sight of sunlight streaming in through my living room windows, or casting a beautiful golden hue on the beds upstairs, my hungry-for-sunlight flowers soaking in the luxury.. It is amazing, how much power the sunlight has. I would have never said this a few years ago, but now, I truly appreciate the beauty and the need of sunlight. The mere sight of sunlight streaming in lifts up my spirits, makes me perky and bright, has daughter running outdoors to play, so what if it still is chilly.

In the big freeze in December, all my plants in my conservatory died. And broke my heart. This was my first time in a house with a conservatory. Normally all my potted plants are indoors – this time, I did not realize that conservatory does not really count as indoors. I just have 2 plants left, and I pour all my love and attention to keeping them alive. Today, the gorgeous sunlight had me opening every blind and curtain possible, rotating my rose bush until it got sunlight from every quarter. Every new leaf that sprouts has my heart erupting with joy. I think I monitor my plants almost as diligently as I monitored my daughter’s activities when she was younger.

This morning was even more magical. We had a light layer of frost, which had side-walks glistening like millions of diamonds, when the gentle sunlight fell on them! Oh so gorgeous! I only wish I had a camera handy to capture it!

Oh spring, do come soon! How I long for days of uninterrupted sunshine, daffodils,splashes of colour, days spent outdoors, and not having to worry whether my plants are getting their daily dose of sunshine!

A mid-summer morning

This morning, I spent some quality time with my garden. Well, it was screaming for attention, so I had no real choice.

When we moved here, I started hunting for gardeners, only to find that every gardener around here was super booked for spring and summer. My neighbour’s gardener offered to come by, if he comes across some free spot, but that hasn’t happened so far. So I had to take matters into my hands and tidy it up. I had done it once before and in no time, the garden is over-grown again. I was hoping against hope that one of those numerous gardeners would get free, but that does not seem to be happening, and my garden looked ready to grow into a forest, so I had no real choice.

We have a little front garden and a little back yard, and believe me, it did not look so little today. What with Poohi’s running commentary about how she can’t talk louder than the lawn mower and us finding a little baby snail, which then turned into a conversation about how we could build a house for the snail, with her building blocks. I had been absent-mindedly saying ‘yes’, when she ran in to get her blocks and I realized what I had just agreed to.

So then it took some story telling(around the snail) to explain why the snail does not need a house. Then off madam went to find the rest of the snail family. Anyway, here is the all-important snail. And in case you guys, don’t remember about this obsession with snails, it started quite a while back. And will someone please tell me, how a child who loves snails can be scared of bees or any insect for that matter?

And a few pictures of my garden in bloom. These are plants that had been planted before we came here. And I love the roses! The one in the picture is one the first of the season, and there are so many buds, I can’t wait for them to bloom.

And these are my contribution to the flora around here.

By the way, there seems to be something eating up some of my plants. I had planted some marigold and dahlias in the garden but something seems to be eating them all up. I can’t see anything but some slime near the plants. Any idea what it might be? I took a couple of marigold seedlings and planted them in a planter and kept it in the conservatory, and so far, it seems alright.. So I do think that there is something that is eating up my plants in the garden. And eating selectively too! It leaves all those weeds untouched!

And oh yes,before I forget, I have started associating summer and sunny days with the sound of lawn mowers. Every lawn mower in the area gets used during the few sunny days that we get.