©voyager, all rights reserved
I’m still recovering from my long day of waiting for my dear hubby to wake up from dental surgery, but today is bright and warm and the sunshine is doing wonders for my mood. Jack and I had a slow, pleasant walk around our own neighbourhood today and the flowers are starting to open and all the colours are finally coming back. My neighbourhood is also positively busy with life. I’ve seen butterflies and ladybugs, gnats and ants. The birds are busy building nests, finding food and singing their songs. The squirrels are digging, jumping, running and twitching their tails. Soon they will be harder to spot as the trees get fuzzier and leaf day approaches. Now is when the magic of spring becomes visible and my senses can take a long drink of the sweet outdoors. These are the flowers that are blooming today and the hyacinth is scenting the air with a sweet bouquet. It’s grand.
Here the easter bells have already gone away again.
I’m so happy to hear spring is helping you recover, I hope the warm bright days last for a while!
It has been raining quite a lot here but I’m looking forward to the weekend, it should be warm and sunny. I need that, and the garden needs me. Tomorrow looks like it will be a rainy and dull day, but it’s also a national holiday (45th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution) so I think I will stay home and get some rest.
Nightjar,
It’s pollen season and for lunch I had some red wine and benadryl and a nap. When I get home it’s time to see if I can get my lawnmower running because the grass is leaping up like the pentagon budget.
Oops. Let’s try that again.
Nightjar,
Enjoy your long weekend. I hope the weather co-operates so that you can get your gardening done. Even though it’s hard work, I usually find it relaxing to get outside and get my hands dirty.
Daffodils are finally out! Still waiting for the grass to grow -- but on the plus side, the roses are sending up shoots, all the peonies survived transplantation, as did the baby’s-breath and the decorative asparagus. Everything else can do what it likes, I’m just glad something is growing again.
I’m glad that you have nice weather for a change and it’s helping you recover.
It’s been sunny and warm here. The sea has gone from 1 °C to 11 °C in just three weeks and the high pressure has pushed the sea level 45 cm (18 in) below normal, while the lake in which my mom swims every morning hasn’t still lost all the ice and she lives just 100 km north of here.
Ice Swimmer,
Sunshine and warm is nice, but it sounds as if you prefer the sea to be colder. I don’t know what to make of your mom also swimming with ice. Around here we have polar bear swims where people get in and out of icy water, but no-one lingers. You both must have strong, steady hearts.
voyager @ 8
Actually, I like both warm and cold water. They are quite different experiences. 8 °C -- 14 °C falls a bit between, I like it also, but it doesn’t have the extreme sensation of the colder water or the mild and comfortable feel of the warmer water.
In my particular situation, the low sea level makes entering water a bit more difficult, as one cannot just walk into water down the stairs and one has to be careful not to kick the sharp rocks in the bottom.
Most people don’t linger in icy water here, either. The reactions people have seem to vary, but in general, tourists, exchange students and people who come to swim in groups seem to make more noise when they enter the icy water. Elderly and middle-aged people seem to go winter swimming more than youngsters do.
As for my mom, she is far from being the oldest one swimming in that winter swimming place (it’s municipal thing, with heated stairs* into the lake and locker rooms). There are people well in their seventies, maybe even eighties who go there (she’s 69).
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* = To keep the stairs from becoming slippery from ice and people from breaking their bones.