Welcome Spring!

It has been a long winter here on my beautiful island.  The snowdrops and crocuses that usually appear in January or early February were a good month late, and other spring flowers as well as green leaves on trees are also well behind schedule.  But finally, both according to the calendar and according to my garden, spring has arrived.  It was solace to the soul to be out in the sunshine clearing up the winter detritus and discovering the first of the flowers in the garden yesterday.  It is a good reminder that life - all life - is a circle.  We are born, we live, we die, and life starts anew.  It is true for us humans, it is true for our beloved dogs, and it is true for the flowers and trees in our natural world.

Today, the first day of spring, began with a beautiful sunrise - the start of a new day, the start of a new season:

In  my garden, flowers from early, middle, and late spring are all blooming at once - just a few, here and there, but enough to give me a sense of renewal.  Crocuses and tulips, daffodils and hyacinth, and the tiny blue flowers of periwinkle are found in the beds around my yard and the pots on my patios.

And while these harbingers of spring and summer show their pretty heads, the yellow flowers of the winter jasmine - which has been blooming since November - are still brightening my garden, are hanging on to spring's coat tails, reluctant as the morning frost on the lawn to admit it is time to exit stage left and let the next season begin.

Happy Spring, my readers, happy spring.