Springtime

I love it when the flowers start braving the cold and force their way out. Daffodils are by far my favourite flower, they're just so cheerful. HID's happy, a cheap bouquet or what?! The daffodil picture below was taken in a memorial garden, where older members of HID's family are laid to rest. My brother-in-law recently visited us from his home of 5 years, Japan, and he was amazed at how many cherry blossom trees there are in England, lining streets and proudly in front gardens, the difference being that in Japan, they are all planted in one place to stunning, pink-cloud type effect, whereas here they are simply spread out. The blossom trees pictured is taken in our local zoo, branches literally heavy with blooms. Can you spot the bluetit?

One of HID's favourite flowers are bluebells (after sunflowers), and he grew up with a place called "bluebell wood" at the top of his lane, a place where he and his brother built rope swings and bike ramps, and camped out in their boyhood. The bluebell pictures below feature this gorgeous hidden wood, and my Boy is very lucky, as seeing that we bought HID's childhood home from my MIL, bluebell wood is fast becoming one of our favored free and easy ways to entertain a toddler. Even better now spring is here, so much more to explore.

But by far my favourite thing about spring is surprisingly not daffodils, blossom, bluebells, or even less rain and more outdoor adventures, it's the view from my back garden. Pictured below are two shots of my back garden, one taken in the bleak mid winter, and one taken about an hour ago. In winter you see, when the trees behind the fence are bare, we have a less than charming view of an industrial estate, which this year saw fit to pile beer barrels a good few meters higher than our fence, literally spitting distance away. So after sending the image below to the council and never receiving even a reply, I have decided to simply be glad of spring, and the heavy, hide-a-multitude-of-sins foliage it brings.