I search for signs of Spring from the first of January. But it can’t be hurried. And because it arrives slowly, it’s all the
more reviving.
The light glinting off a crowd of snowdrops under the
hawthorn hedge flashes a signal of hope, like kids bouncing sun light off a
shard of mirror and on top of the hedge a blue-grey dunnock throws back its head
and pours out its sweet scratchy song. I
take my tea and go into the garden, bending low to the soil to look for more
signs. Little spears of crocus flowers thrust
up through soggy soil, tiny primrose petals are ready to ping open, celandine
leaves are glossy and polished ready for the Spring Show.
Now it’s March and daffodils wave as I tread the earth lightly on my way home from Dru Yoga at Theatre Clwyd. The rhubarb’s showing tantalizing glimpses of ruby red stalks. I’ve seen skinny lambs, acid yellow primroses,
heard my blackbird sing under the darkening sky and a song thrush in his usual tree belt out his aria as I pass each morning.
I’ve done some great ‘slow’ things whilst waiting for
spring. I spent a Saturday with North East Wales Wildlife in Rhydymwyn, furtling about in mouldy barn owl pellets looking for the
remains of harvest mice. I learned how
to recognise a vole's skull from a shrew's and became adept at telling species
apart by removing their molars. Soon I was calling out, ‘field vole, bank vole,
common shrew,’ like I’d been doing it for years! No harvest mice but it certainly beat doing
the weekly shop.
At Theatre Clwyd, I watched a spell-binding production of
Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood, where I heard ‘the dew falling,’ and ‘the sleep of
birds.’
Last week, back at the Theatre, I experienced a ‘Picnic
Play.’ In the Clwyd Room we watched the
cast of Under Milk Wood read Tom Stoppard’s ‘Inspector Hound,’ whilst we
munched sandwiches and slurped tea. We
could’ve sat at the feet of the cast on the cushions and blankets provided. A few did, but most laid their food out on
tables, jars of mustard and sandwiches wrapped in rustling tin foil. It was great fun. Their next picnic play is on March 21st.
3 comments:
Spring certainly seems to be earlier this year than last. I've already picked some of my rhubarb. Ransoms planted in the 'acer glade' last autumn are now clear of the leaf mold. I'm hoping they flower before I head for Greece
home made pesto sauce made with Ransoms leaves is very nice on warm spag with a dusting of parmesan.
Oh it must be nice, daffodils and colour this early in the season. Still a week or two away yet in these parts. One or two are looking ready to open soon, but most still only have leaf growth, flower heads yet to form. And the rhubarb, well it hasn't even broken through the crust yet. And we've barely had a frost this winter.
But the birds are singing.
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