Der Frühling kommt ...

 

Slowly

Painfully

August 24 is surely verging on spring? I still need to stay rolled up in my duvet and minks till 9am.  Nearly every morn the untrodden fields are white with frost ... the fire is guttering ... the kitties are snuggling ... I am cuddling Schnidibumpfl .. until the dominatrix bladder drags me from his arms ...

But the sure clock of the seasons is our Mr P.  First touch of spring and, wham up he goes like a ramrod. His tail I mean. And the hens of the Gerolstein Girls Brigade stop being bossy best pals and start being coy would-be-concubines. Which involves noise.

Mr P is getting old and clumsy. He's broken one feather on Day 1.  Oh. Wellgunde and Woglinde are hidden behind his tail. He ... um .. operates from the rear.  Sorry mate. She's pretending to be not interested. But it is only day one.

There was just one hour yesterday when I could venture outside and make a very small beginning on preparing the vegetable garden for the forthcoming ('Komm! komm!) planting season. Wendy knocked the rest off this morning while I was still in front of the fire. 

The strawberry plants have survived the frosts. Some chunky leeks. Some spinach, and herbs ... I'm afraid I'm not horticultural ... will others come up again, or are they annuals? I buried a few squidgy tomatoes last autumn ... I collected a bottle full of basil seeds ....

Ah! I also planted in May some charity stall bulbs. Ten, I think. I don't have green fingers, so I counted it as a donation. The ground was soooo hard in what I thought was a nice sheltered spot under the trees ... with my duff hand, I could hardly break the surface. So I shoved them in as best I could and thought: we'll see. Well, eight seem to have come up! Little green shoots! I made something GROW ..

Some are a wee bit smothered in ground cover. But the ground cover has flowers. Violets! Mother's favourite flowers .. I remember buying violets on the ramparts of Tourettes-sur-Loup ...

We have a little dell between my bedroom and the (sometimes) raging torrent that is Saltwater Creek. It was once an mini-orchard: 20 years ago we had five kinds of fruit therefrom. Alas, the frequently overflowing Creek has drowned all but one tree ... I'm not a litigious fellow, but I think the Waimakariri Council owes me a new orchard. And a new sleepout. And a new garage. One night, after a bottle of something, I shall intent a process ..

And see? On the hardy but weakening cherry tree ... the first blossoms of spring!

This one is further away from the river ...

Outside my bedroom and the lounge French doors, we have a patio. The one where Mr P loves to fornicate. It is made of tiles, which means that, like a suburban drive, it needs a regular water-blast to keep it moss and weed free.  Well, I wasn't up to water-blasting this year ... but instead of weeds (well, as well as!) beautiful flowers .. violas? .. came up! All over the place!

I couldn't get down low enough to photograph these ..

Well, maybe it's pre-Spring ...

I'll go searching for buds next time it's warm!