Sunday, March 15, 2015

A Tale of Early Spring

It began in the air. The wafting piney scent reached my olfactory sense and sparked that kind of feeling which was characteristic of spring. I can't exactly describe the feeling, one must personally feel it to understand that spring is truly in the air despite the presence of snow mounds everywhere.








The movement of the sun also heralded the approach of spring. It has started to rise higher in the sky, making the mornings and afternoons brighter and daylight longer.




I could feel the pleasant warmth of the sun as it slid slowly across the blue sky.




Our sleeping solar-powered garden lamps came back to life as the sun recharged them.






I watched these great tits from our window one misty morning and I imagined them as singing of the arrival of spring.






One windy day when the clouds raced swiftly and unveiled the sun hidden behind the thick clouds. That bright disc kept appearing and disappearing but could not completely get rid of the murk. 




And then came the 22 degrees halo around the sun.




These sights met my eyes, first at early morning as I stepped into the building where I work, then later as I stepped out of my work place before noontime.





On my way to another work, I spotted three of these unfamiliar birds perched on the highest twigs of a towering tree, so high that I couldn't really see how they looked like. Two of them flew away as I stopped to look while one stayed. I slowly fished my camera out of my backpack, wishing that the bird wouldn't be scared. I zoomed in to that little yellow speck against the blue sky. Ta-da! Captured! I googled for the name, and European serin (also a kind of finch) Eurasian siskin turned up. (Corrected by a seasoned birder who visited my cyberhome and updated March 21) I felt elated! And yes, as the third pic shows, it was singing! Ah, the music of spring!








Other birds I captured during those fine days of early spring.




One cloudy but semi-warm day when I noticed the rainbow-colored reflection of the peering sun on the huge puddle of melting snow.




While the ground was still blanketed with snow and spring bulbs were still sleeping, our indoor flowers already started blooming again as sunshine streamed richly through our window panes.








Bought these pot-grown mini-daffodils for our dining table. One of my well-loved spring bulbs.






The early days of spring came to be erratic, such as sunny one day, then a bit rainy the following day, or snow-dusty . But since the temperature held above zero for seven consecutive days, which is the criteria for determining the presence of spring, authorities announced that springtime had come to our province.

And so, I have to say a late goodbye to winter through these images of the last heavy snowfall in our city. It's a playground close to our apartment.






We have been flooded with lots of sunshine recently. The heaps of snow are rapidly thawing. The trees are thickening as the slender twigs start budding out.

Welcome spring! May you shower us with all the wonderful things that our loving and generous Creator brought to existence from the beginning.

Joining



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