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.