Spring is Springing

It's finally arrived! Spring is here! These are the orchards at work, of which I made a colourful photo monatge.

Mel is unimpressed.

Spring Watch (and Listen)

Another walk with wattle and cairns. 

Here's the thing about cairns; I like them, especially when walking through the mountains in the mist (hello, Scotland) as they are friendly indicators that I am on the right track. When they are randomly-piled 'sculptures' that assist in clearing the fields of rocks so that they can be ploughed and sewn with crops, I also admire them. When they are built up beside a track so that they can lead walkers off in the wrong direction, or disturb wildlife that lives beneath them, I am not so much of a fan. They still look good though (if sometimes phallic). 

See the book on the top of my to-read pile? That's in honour of the season. 

Someone let the cat out of the bag, purr-lease!

Ready to watch another Liverpool game with suitable accompaniment.

As Spring begins, the greenery is growing and the pathway to our front garden opens out into a beautiful-looking bower. 

We had a new addition to our Walking Crew as Purple Lady brought her new-to-her dog along with us on our weekend walk up Mt Painter and proved that not everyone will ever look at the camera at the same time. 

During this lockdown period we have decided to play our vinyl, taking it in turns to select an album to listen to in its entirety. Melantho rates them with varying degrees of approval, as you can see. 

This album belongs to Him Outdoors. I admit I came late to The Wedding Present. I had a pact with my best friend at university that I would always dance to any song played of theirs (she reciprocated to The Pogues; we both lost our banana to Carter USM). I miss those carefree student dance-tastic days, when the Northwest of England was where great music lived, musical energy was at 100%, and all that mattered was how jangly was your guitar? If George Formby had played a proper instrument rather than the ukulele he would have sounded thus.

"Lost your look of life? Too much apple pie."

I loved this band so much and felt they were criminally underrated. In 1988 as part of my feminist development, while others just dismissed them as pretty pop with nice haircuts, I went on a Reclaim the Streets march, where they played, 'I walk the earth my darling; this is my home.' Fantastic guitars and harmonies with a message - see Don't Call Me Baby - plus collaborations with Lou Reed, Zodiac Mindwarp and the KLF didn't hurt, but they were inspirational to me in their own right. 

"Don't you ever get sick of feeling sick about it?"

Everything's coming up cake

And so I have begun a new job. In this job there is cake. I think this a good thing. (The person who made the cake knows me and she knows that Liverpool Red is my favourite colour.)

New job cake

New (insider) job cake

And after a long, cold winter, the first shoots of spring are beginning to show in the garden.  

Leucojum or Summer Snowflake

I used to think these were snowdrops but, according to P. Allen Smith of Garden Home, they are not. 

"This plant is often confused with galanthus or snowdrops. But you can distinguish the two by the little green dot. Also the petals of the leucojum are an even length while galanthus has three long petals and three short petals."

So, now I know.

Some kind of daffodil

Purple flowers (Dendrobium orchids?)

Probably a Camellia

Garden growth

While at The National Gallery of Australia Bookshop, I came across this little gem: Schottenfreude by Ben Schott. You know how it seems like the Germans have a word for everything? Well, they really do. This book provides them along with meanings and pronunciation advice. Many of them are portmanteau words (yes, I am aware of the irony of using a French word to describe a German phenomenon), which are hilarious in literal as well as metaphoric translation. 

Spring flora and fauna

Here are some more pictures of spring doing its stuff in our garden.

Spring hopes eternal

Spring is coming - slowly but surely. I love the inevitability of seasons and wouldn't want to live somewhere that didn't have them. Here are some images from our back garden.



I see a dragon in the grape vines



Even Chester is happy. One might even go so far as to say smug.


Did you say Chester or Cheshire?