I've been waiting for my old friends to pop up for a week or so. I'd been looking for them before the Christmas break but they were keeping well below ground and yet today my patience was rewarded with their return. These daffodils are the earliest I know to flower in Bristol, planted at some time long forgot around a horse chestnut in the garden of the Catholic Cathedral in Clifton. Usually their first green shoots poke through in December, as can be seen here in a blog entry from December 10th 2007. I'm not sure of the variety but I'm guessing something like January gold as they usually flower before the end of January and looking at how advanced these are, they may be out in a week or so if it remains mild.
I get so excited seeing these particular daffodils emerge as it brings a renewed sense of moving forward, nights getting lighter and the merest hint of a spring to come after the dark days of mid December. Having said that this morning was so dark and stormy even by 8.30am streetlights remained lit. And yet, by 4.30pm when the photograph below was taken it was mild, calm and for the first time in many weeks I managed to get 20 minutes sitting in the garden with a cup of tea after arriving home after work. It felt great, I can feel my old energy returning and for me there are few things more pleasurable than being able to sit outdoors at dusk in the first part of the year and feel fresh air envelope me. All I need now is a blackbird singing a territorial call from a high rooftop and I'll be in seventh heaven.
No comments:
Post a Comment