Dappling; daisies; and cumulonimbus horse chestnuts

Or...Week 18

Hello!

I hope you’ve had a good week. Cold, innit? (she says, endlessly…)

Before we begin with our usual Friday post, a while ago I put up a very wintry picture of the view across the Avon Gorge towards Leigh Woods and up towards the Suspension Bridge - the bridge being one of the three things Bristol is most famous for, along with Massive Attack and that statue - and promised to take a picture from the same spot in each season. So here’s spring. I hung around for a little sunlight to fall on it as it still looked so wintry in the shade, but you can really see the fresh young shoots coming in in the sunny patch. You can compare to winter here.

To business: in this Friday post I talk about three things I have noticed/eaten/done this week that felt particularly seasonal and of this moment, and you tell me yours. We begin with a poetic round up of your last week’s comments, so here is your Week 17:

Pricking out marigold and tomato seedlings; a male orange tip - first butterfly spotting of the year; fresh green beech leaves picked and now steeping in vodka; the smell of spring - wet earth, fresh roots, sphagnum moss, rain; a pair of goldfinches, one of them singing; the first leaves of the potatoes showing above ground; the sound of the first cuckoo; cabbages bolting; red legged partridges nesting right in the garden; two eggs in an osprey nest (seen via monitor); a first harvest of green beans (in Texas! Before we all get worried about how behind we are…); fluffy baby blackbird fledglings in the garden, hanging around bothering their parents for food; a slowworm under a tile at the allotment; tiny green emerging ginkgo leaves; bluebells and April showers; bumblebees bumbling around.

Just gorgeous, as ever. Thank you. Here’s my Week 18:

Dappling

I was walking in the park this morning and realised I was in dappled shade, and how beautiful it is, soft and flattering and pretty, with a little sprinkling of magic. You don’t get the same effect from the shade of bare branches, though I feel there should be a word for that too. But dappled shade is back, baby. This is Korina in the dappled shade of a cherry tree.

Daisies

Move over dandelions, it’s daisy time. Well actually it’s both now. I know there is a saying that says that when you are able to touch a certain number of daisies with one hand, it is summer, but I can’t find it (do let me know if you know). Anyway whatever number it is I’m pretty sure this is it.

Cumulus horse chestnuts

Yes I was on about horse chestnuts last week, but they are stunning at the moment. Ours have produced their candles now and are the greenest things in the park by a long way. There is one absolutely magnificent tree up by the Downs next to a roundabout that is hugely tall and columnar and covered in white candles. I can never get a picture of it because I’m always driving when I pass it, but it struck me the other day how much the shape is like a cumulonimbus cloud that is building up towards a storm. And then I noticed how all of the others that aren’t quite so majestic really have the shape of cumulus clouds. Have a look at your local ones this week and see if you know what I mean.

That’s it from me. Remember that we have a chat every Sunday morning over in the chat part of the app where you can share your seasonal pictures of the week, food, flowers, crafts, whatever. This week being the first of the month we will all be sharing our ‘regular spots’ to see how they’ve changed, so remember to snap them in the run up.

But above all please leave your comments below: what have you noticed/done/eaten this week that has felt particularly this week? Tell us about your Jack-in-the-Green, your asparagus feasts and your bluebell walks.