Random Musings: Scent of Spring

I don’t know what spring has been like in your part of the world but it has been weird in mine. Much warmer and wetter than usual which has resulted in the most lush green look I’ve ever seen Canberra sport.

This last week has been a bit cooler with a lot of rain. Yesterday it truly poured down, areas around me were flooded and rooves caved in. But today the sun broke through the clouds to make for a warm, humid atmosphere, something we aren’t used to in the nation's capital.

I try to get out for a lunchtime work most days. Today was the first day I’d managed this week, but what a day to get out and about. The warm, humid air made the scent of nature around me truly profound. As I walked along I could smell the rich, dark earth, the fresh growing grass, the sweetness of honeysuckle.

We rely on our eyesight as our primary sense, sometimes to the detriment of the others. However, as I walked along today I was so aware of how the world smelt it was almost overwhelming. 

I paused for a moment, closing my eyes and drew in an even deeper breath to fill my head with the heady scent of spring. It was a small perfect moment in an otherwise unremarkable day. And sometimes that is all we need. One perfect moment to make a whole day a good one. 

Random Musings: Spring

It is spring. 

The sun is shining. 

I'm wearing a t-shirt. 

Flowers are everywhere.

The world is good!

Green

After two years of significant rain, the hot, dry, dusty years of the drought seem a distant memory.  It is hard to remember how parched and brown the landscape was.  Lawns died, the landscape dried out, even the deciduous trees took on a dull look as their leaves were coated with dust that there was no rain to wash off.

This spring is the absolute antipathy of those drought stricken years.  Lush is the only word to describe it.  The greens are so vivid and the trees seem to be packing on as many leaves as they can hold.  Everywhere there is grass growing at an amazing rate.  It is like the plants are trying to make up for those lost years.

My garden is no exception.  The maple trees that I planted just a few years ago now tower over me.  The roses that I pruned back like a secateur wielding mad woman a few months ago are covered in leaves and the buds that will soon make a fantastic display.  There are irises about to flower, peas growing like crazy and carefully protected in case of a late frost, even my tomatoes are growing like mad.

Everything feels so fresh and vibrant it makes me feel fresher too.  Everywhere I go I can feel nature stretching herself out and I just love it.  This green spring makes me very happy.

Blossom

I spent all of autumn taking pictures of trees in their glorious seasonal colours, so it is only right that I show the other end of the spectrum, the beautiful blossom that is covering our city in delicate shades of pink, cream and white.

I do love autumn, the rich red, orange and golds of the city seem imbued with the warmth of the summer past.  The blossoms of spring are different.  They hold a message of hope for the summer to come.  They speak of the coming warmth, the banishment of the long cold winter.  They are full of life and happiness. Every year the first brave blossom arrives while the days are still short, dark and cold but my heart lifts at the sight.  I know that spring will soon be upon us and I revel in their beauty.

After days of glorious sunny weather today is grey and thundery and the blossom is looking a bit bedraggled from the rain but  I know that these examples I saw over the last week or so are only the beginning.

Enjoy!

What is your favorite season?

Floriade

One of the joys of living in Canberra is the seasons.  We get all four in all their glory (well except for last year when summer forgot to arrive).  Hot green days of summer, the golden trees of autumn, icy winter many times complete with snow and the brilliant flowers of spring.

There is no place better to experience the colour and scent of spring than Canberra's annual flower festival, Floriade. Each year has a theme, this year it is style and design but the themes never mean too much to me, I go for the glorious display of over a million flowers in bloom.

Of course like any festival there is the side show.  Stalls selling everything from hamocks to jam, soap to tea and everything in between.  There are performers, rides, bands and entertainment and of course the gnome knoll.  One of these years I might even manage to get to Nightfest, the 5 nights Floriade is lit beautifully and open for an evening of entertainment.

But all of that is just a side show.  Floriade is about the flowers.  True to my girly girl nature I adore flowers, so this is just heaven for me.  Today was a stunning spring day.  Clear blue sky, warm sun, a light breeze.  I wore a dress and a short sleeved cardigan and at times felt a little hot in the sun.  We wandered pausing to admire blooms or stop getting in people's photos.  The park was full of families, tourists and cameras everywhere.  It was absolute heaven.

If you love flowers and have the opportunity, I highly recommend a visit to Canberra at this time of year.  It is just stunning.

Strawberries

Spring has sprung!  Everywhere around me I can see new fresh green leaves, the soft colours of blossom, happy faces of daffodils, birds flying by with absurdly long twigs for nest building. And bliss, oh such bliss, the days are getting warmer and longer.

Every spring I feel a sense of relaxing just a little.  It is like the muscles in my body are unclenching after trying to resist the long cold winter.  Going about my everyday chores somehow seems easier when I don't have to put on a parka to go out to the clothes line and the work day seems shorter when I get to go home in daylight.

But one of my absolute favourite things at this time of year is the influx of fresh produce, notably this year being the amazing abundance of delicious strawberries!  Each sweet mouthful is bursting with flavour.  I can almost feel the vitamins and goodness entering my body.  Much as apples and mandarins have been lovely, morning tea is suddenly a whole lot more exciting with strawberries on my plate.

What are you loving about the arrival of spring?

C-c-c-cold

Our last week in Copenhagen was quite cool.  "It is good" I told S as we put jackets on over t-shirts "we will be all aclimatised for when we get home".  WRONG!  A nippy breeze and grey skies do not aclimatise you for -5 degree mornings and days where the apparent temperature is 4.5.  The weather man tells me that this is a particularly cold winter and my toes tell me that too as they struggle to thaw out.

But every year at this time, when I'm feeling like it will never warm up again, spring starts to raise its head.  I've spotted the first blossom trees, the daffodils by my front window are budding up and the wattle is coming out.  Spring is coming, I've just got to survive the rest of winter first!

Blossom Tree

Last autumn I wrote about the beautiful show that the tree outside my office put on for my enjoyment.  It took a break for a few months, letting the winter sun through its branches to attempt to warm up my, at the time freezing, office.

Well the office aircon is fixed, the weather is warming up, and my tree is back delighting me.  The whole thing is now covered in massive balls of heavy, pink blossoms.  Not content with multiple layers of delicately ruffled petals, this tree produces its flowers in clusters so heavy that the branches are actually weighed down by them.  It looks fantastic.

Many of the other blossom trees are already on the way out, being taken over by bright shiny new leaves, but as long as the wind doesn't blow too hard I think I've got a good few weeks of enjoyment still to go with this magnificent tree.

Spring has sprung

There is still officially a week and a half of winter to go, but no one has told the trees and the flowers.  In the last week spring has most definitely sprung in Canberra.

While the mornings are still cool enough to warrant a coat, by the afternoon temperatures have risen to a point where you forget it, leaving it on the office coat stand to be cursed about the next morning.  Recent rain has given the plants something to feed on and this week is warm and sunny enough to enable washing to be line dried.

With this perfect growing weather avenues of blossom trees have broken out, the scent of one stand just up the road from my office is incredibly heady and they are buzzing with bees.  The willows behind the lake have taken on the soft green fuzz of new leaves and bare branches everywhere have taken on the reddish hue that shows the sap is flowing and greenery is about to appear.

In my garden the daffodils are putting on a gorgeous show.  The fancy doubles stand above minis and there is one especially lovely white and yellow one that guards over all the rest.  They catch the sun from morning to afternoon and just glow.  It really is a beautiful time of year.

My productive garden - part 2

I've written before about the joy of my productive garden, how it provides me with fresh ingredients for my cooking. But it also provides stunning ornament for my home.

Look at this vase of roses, fresh from my garden. This week I've also been able to give my Mum a big bunch and the bushes are still covered. There is nothing like having garden fresh flowers in the house to give a room a lift and really announce that the warm weather is here.

Scent of a ... tree?

At lunch today I ducked out of the office for a breath of fresh air and some time away from the computer screen. It is easy to head into the office in the morning, then look up and discover the day has slipped away, so whenever possible I like to sneak at least a 10 minute walk around the block into my day.

Today, as I rounded one corner, I was suddenly overwhelmed with a fantastic perfume. It took me a moment to identify the source because the blossoms on this tree aren't nearly as spectacular in appearance as many of the other trees or flowers around, but boy is that perfume something to behold.

The tree is huge, packed with clusters of little white flowers and the air is absolutely heady with the scent of them - it must be wonderful in the owners house which sits nestled under the branches. I wasn't the only one whose attention had been attracted, the tree was literally buzzing with hard working bees.

It is just another one of those moments when I love living in the "garden city".

Surprises

Do you like a surprise? I know many people have a morbid fear of them, they like to live life in a planned orderly manner. I however, love a surprise and they come in all shapes and sizes just like the couple I have had in the last day.

Last night I arrived home to a surprise, a beautifully wrapped present on my doorstep! Attached to it was the most lovely card filled with the wonderful wishes of a very special friend. The devine Ms N, is one of the sweetest people you could ever hope to meet and she had delivered me a gift to give me a little extra lift when she thought I could use it. Honestly, it just made my day.

This morning I went to a breakfast which I regularly attend, however due to a full carpark came in a different entrance. As I walked out into the courtyard I was surprised with a beautiful vista. A normally plain walkway has been transformed by vigorously flowering wisteria. It was so unexpected it quite literally stopped me in my tracks. After yesterday's rain it all just looked so fresh and gorgeous, I couldn't help but take a photo.

I hope something wonderful has surprised you today!

As promised - a town full of daisies

Today is bright, sunny and gorgeous, a perfect day to admire the daisies!

I know they are weeds, but the fantastic recent rain we have had here has made them pop up all over the place and they are just beautiful. As you drive along there are whole sections of median strip bright yellow with their happy little faces.

On the weekend I went for a walk during which I passed a family with small children. Each child had a daisy chain crown. I spent years making them with my Mum and to this day, if for some reason I've sat down next to some, I feel compelled to make myself a daisy chain accessory.

They are such a gorgeous sign of spring and the warm weather that is on the way.

Bare Arms

My lilly white arms have been exposed!

Today was a gorgeous 18 degrees allowing me to wear a short sleeved top to work for the first time in quite literally months. I love my winter clothes, but the feeling of freedom that comes when the weather warms up is hard to describe. It is like my muscles actually relax a little more when the weather is warm, movement seems just a little easier without all the layers and life is all good.

Hope you have had a chance to enjoy the lovely weather too!

A room with a view

Have you ever worked somewhere without a window? Where all day you sit in artificial light, air conditioning, remote from the natural world?

I have a couple of times and I find it incredibly draining. Particularly in the winter months when you often arrive in fog, leave in darkness and it feels like you never get to see the sun.

Well a couple of weeks ago I got to move into an office with a window - and not just any window, one that opens! I sit with my back to it, but it still fills my area with natural light, and a short 180 degree pivot and I can look out at a tree about to burst into leaf, a footpath, the pigeons nesting on the next building and down a long street. There is always something happening, something to look at. In those moments when you need a brain break, it is perfect.

Plus, on a gorgeous day like today, you can open the window and get bursts of fresh spring air in the room.

So I really appreciate my new office and its wonderful window.

Spring is sprung

(Read with a Goodfella's type accent)
Spring is sprung
Da grass is riz
I wonder where dem boidies iz
Da little boids is on da wing
Ain't dat absoid
Da little wings is on da boid

I love this poem - which must be read with the accent or it just doesn't work - and always think of it on the first day of spring. As I've mentioned in other recent posts, spring has been here for a few weeks, with daffodils, blossom and new green leaves everywhere but today it was also quite warm. Canberra likes to lull you into a false sense of warmth and security before giving winter one final blast, but today was a real spring day - short sleeves and bare legs are just around the corner!

The fair green veil of spring

Winter has really hit in the last couple of weeks, with icy wind, showers, cold days and even colder nights. But beneath it all, spring is stirring.

I've written about the daffodils and the wattle is out in full glory, but this morning as I drove along, I noticed a distinct green flush to the willows by the lake. It isn't leaves yet, just the branches must have the sap flowing and the leaf buds are starting to swell.

There is a beautiful description of the arrival of spring in "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett:

And over walls and earth and trees and swinging sprays and tendrils the fair green veil of tender little leaves had crept, and in the grass under the trees and the gray urns in the alcoves and here and there everywhere were touches or splashes of gold and purple and white and the trees were showing pink and snow above his head and there were fluttering of wings and faint sweet pipes and humming and scents and scents.

Every year when the trees start to get that green glow I think of that passage and the beautiful description of a fair green veil and smile at the thought of the beauty of spring, just around the corner.

The first bulbs of the year

This morning I opened my living room curtains and spied a little patch of bright yellow brilliance - the first daffodils of the season.

They are by no means the first daffodils in Canberra. The unseasonably mild winter has encouraged bulbs and blossom trees across the city to get in on the act early. I imagine it must be playing havoc for the poor gardeners at Floriade which is still a month away.

But I was a little late in getting my bulbs in the ground this year, so they are the first in my garden. They are actually mini daffodils, just a bit larger than a jonquil and very sweet. The photo is what they look like, not actually my garden because while I happily stood enjoying them from the window, it was freezing out there this morning!

I love the emergence of the spring bulbs. They arrive a little before the warm weather, just as winter feels like it has been dragging on forever and remind you of the warm days to come. Next up should be the bluebells (appallingly named as mine are also white and pink), I will keep you posted.