Spring is Stirring
We had sun yesterday, I think perhaps it did rain at one point. I’m almost certain I heard a few smatterings on the caravan roof as I was spreading the mackerel pate on the children’s school lunchbox rolls. But, it was fleeting, and as the day settled into its rhythm the sun steadied in its strength and like a shy child growing more confident by the minute at a busy garden BBQ, it was, by mid afternoon, bursting with joy and energy.
There is a clumsy bunch of daffodils growing in the bank opposite our front door and we’ve relished in noting their progress as we leave for school each morning. This morning a petal was coyly blushing a shade of butter yellow and we think by tomorrow it may well reveal itself to us. From my studio I can see a bold strip of saffron dashing across the landscape of green, brown and grey. The daffodil pickers came early but seemingly have left the majority of the field for us to enjoy. Inca and I snuck up there after school one evening and stuffed a bunch of stolen daffs in my pocket to give to Grandma. She was both exhilarated and terrified when I hopped into the field and began plucking away…'Mummy are you sure we won’t get told off.’ I wasn’t entirely certain the parchment skinned farmer’s wife wouldn’t holler at us from a hidden viewpoint, but it was worth the risk and thrill of plotting with Inca how we would hide them up our sleeves if we saw anyone along the lane back home.
Early lambs are finding their feet, windows are flung open and the sunlight lingers a little longer on certain patches of the garden, it’s almost within touching distance which is both comforting and commoving.
We’ve been eating a great deal of eggs lately which is getting me all giddy about the idea of having our own hens. I took the children to Heligan over the half term. We stopped and took in the sights at the chicken field, chose our favourites, chatted to them, rudely {I suppose} commented on their plumage and decided which ones we’d be happy to have running about our garden. As we get closer and closer to finishing the house I look at the garden a lot more, making plans for our vegetable garden, the herb patch and fruit garden. It won’t be this year that we delight in home grown delicacies, but it’s nice to look forward to a breakfast of fresh berries, scrambled eggs and spinach from within walking distance.
In the studio today I’m painting Easter eggs, the rain is dripping from each crossbar of the window frames, I have just seen a woodpecker land on the pile of wood we’ve prepared for our next bonfire and whilst the sky is a watercolour practice paper of smudgy greys, the lush green grass in the meadow outside the red shed and trill of birdsong is encouraging to say the least.