As far as I'm concerned Spring started TODAY! It's 1st March (St David's Day - patron saint of Wales, Daffodils one of the symbols of Wales), the sun is shining, it's NOT windy, the birds are calling, hens are sunbathing, Button is snoozing in the sun on the bed as I type, and the daffodils are out in the GARDEN! Pah! to conventional calendars that tell me Spring doesn't start till the end of March! Mind you - we have been known to get snow in April and sometimes it feels as though summer never arrives...... but for today I am in optimistic mood. I made it through another winter (OK I'm a bit of a drama queen! But I know how the ancient peoples felt when Spring returned!).
Here are the hens (and cockerels) enjoying the sun too (picture misty as it's taken through a window that has been salt blasted by the wind since October). I can't take the picture outside as they rush towards me as soon as I appear - not affection, they just associate me with Food...
This sheep is probably also enjoying the sun on her back (now someone will tell me it's a ram...well I wasn't going to go in and check!).
And no this isn't a neolithic tomb .... it's our island water tank. The water flows down from the Hoy hills (in the next picture) into Sandy Loch on Hoy. Then it goes through a treatment works and is pumped under the stretch of water you can see to this tank. It's always circulating back and forth to Hoy to keep it from stagnating, and then we (and the folk at the north end of Hoy) draw off water as needed. Some folk on Graemsay still have their own water supply, but most of us now have water through mains pipes to our houses.
Burra Sound with the Hoy Hills in the background. These are the hills I often photograph, but I'm over the other side of the island from my house, taking this shot.
So after a refreshing trip out, it's time for an equally cuppa (cup of tea) and some cake I think!
Neither do I, Sian. Spring for me is from the beginning of March to the end of May, then it's summer. No daffs out up here, though they are out for Dewi Sant down in the village. But I know it's spring, as I've just seen the first primroses, both on the hill up from the village and in our back 'garden'.
ReplyDeletePS Our weather has been much like yours for the last couple of days - so nice to be a bit warmer :-)
Spring is not a calendar date, it IS the first daffodils, warmer weather and a lifting of the spirits. No matter if those days are interspersed with winter.
ReplyDeleteLol, your island water tank at first reminded me of the 'green home' that Bill Gates built.
Enjoy your spring:)
Ahhh spring. I wish. March is a psychological turning point for me. Not that spring comes in March here, but I can "see" spring looming as the temperatures slowly (very slowly)rise in March.
ReplyDeleteWish I could visit your glorious island !
I quite agree with you, St. David's Day is the beginning of Spring - or at least, the beginning of the beginning of Spring! We have daffodils too. Isn't it lovely? Ours are early this year. Even if the snow returns, there's no going back now! :)
ReplyDeleteGlad that your spring has arrived, enjoy each day.
ReplyDeleteFirst Welsh cakes, then Daffs....As a Welshman you have hit my soft spot.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a poem about the same thing happening here in Cornwall. I think it would possibly be appropriate on Graemsay too. Good feeling to be enjoyed.
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