Kevin's Watch

Spring is coming...

I LOVE SPRING.
I LOVE SPRING.
I LOOOOOVVVVVEEEE SPRING!!

Favorite thing about spring?
Mine is LEAVES. I love trees having leaves. I think I feel physically better and more relaxed when I look outside and see leaves.

What are people seeing?
I'm seeing buds for leaves on trees, (esp. willows).
And a few kinds of blossoms: crocuses, snowdrops, jonquils/daffodils, forsythias.
Buds for these cool big pink flowers I like on one kind of tree.
And buds for stuff I think is gonna be crepe myrtle..
We're having a crazy record-breaking warm spell, even for this "spring-is-almost-here" time of year.

Pictures of flowers, ice melting, or cute animals in spring?
(Not expecting any sort of EXPLOSION of baby lambs and people trying to out-cute each other with pictures of cute animals or anything... )

Any favorite poems, lyrics/music, about spring or deep thoughts...? ...even if tinged with melancholy.)

Hope my enthusiasm isn't too much for anyone who's not feelin' so great this March day.
And yes, I know, I know, it's not spring everywhere at any given moment.
...so we're starting with the Northern Hemisphere since it's March.
Though, if you folks in "the South" want to bump this again in fall --errmm, I mean "our fall," that's cool.

Spring? It's the middle of the arguleh mating season in Jötunheimr. This is what it looked like a few days back in the archipelago.



The sea's tightly iced over and we're getting more snow next week. Trees might be willing to consider showing a millimeter of green leaves some 1,5 months hence.

Linna Heartlistener wrote: Favorite thing about spring?
Mine is LEAVES. I love trees having leaves. I think I feel physically better and more relaxed when I look outside and see leaves.

When I was younger I developed a fear that the leaves would not come back. I was sure someone had forgotten to turn on the leaves switch. I would stare at the bare trees, convinced they would never return. I only calmed down when the green haze would start covering the branches. You know that light green haze you see on the naked trees when you are driving.

To this day there is still a little panic in me at this time of year that the trees will stay bare.

I suppose one sign of Spring can be said to be the departure of Jupiter and Venus from the northern skies.

I live on the top floor of a tower block facing north and the two planets have been a spectacular feature in the night sky for quite a while now.

It had been overcast the past couple of days, with much needed rain here, the clouds had managed to touch the steepletops but alas it didn't rain. So when last night the skies cleared again and Jupiter and Venus were gone I felt kinda sad. But at least Spring is here.

no spring in texas.

but growing up in new hampshire - i loved spring! after some months of winter we finally would get back outside. snow would melt - you could smell the earth - the rotting of leaves that had been under snow all that time.

Since I obviously possess no spring piccies from this year yet, this is from the previous April (16th, to be precise), taken on the yard of the medieval church of Lohja. Behold the lack of new grass and any non-coniferous foliage. I like the immense increase of daylight, however.

LOVE these pictures! All we got is Harmattan (Google Harmattan images to see what I'm talking about). That Sahara dust that makes pictures of Africa look all golden in the sky... when there's too much of it, the air is murky gray and everything is so dusty. You can wipe the table at night and write your name on it in the morning, and one's eyes, throat and sinuses are irritated, and everything is just dirty and dismal. So I love these fresh, clean pictures!!! In a few weeks, our rainy season will give us a kind of Spring also. the air will be washed clean and stuff will turn green...

I have one of these flowering now in my garden.

DISCLAIMER: I didn't take this picture! I found it on Facebook.

A series of pictures I have taken and posted in my Facebook online album A Stroll Around the Neighborhood, featuring pictures I take on my cell of the Duckpond Neighborhood, where I take my twice daily walks.

A blooming bush along the curb, which I had no idea would grow here. A friend of mine says the flower is called the African Iris.



The bush, as it was getting ready to burst in to full bloom.



The bush in full bloom. I only wish I was a better photographer, and that my camera was a little better. I am sad the colors of the petals other than white did not come through. I felt this bush was spectacular, to be growing along the curb of a north central Florida street.



Then I started to get a little philosophical.


The beauty fades away...


...but the promise of new blooms...


...heralds the cycle of eternal spring.

All that said, my favorite thing about spring is Pesach/Passover! I just love that holiday.

Spring has sprung, the grass has riz.
I wonder where the birdie is?

The bird
Is on the wing.

Ridiculous! Absurd!

The wing is on the bird!

I was just thinking the same things...

Took this on a trailwalk...

Linna Heartlistener wrote:Spring is coming...

Not for me it's not. Quite the opposite in fact.

--A

Hey, I anticipated and - in fact - prepared for that comment, Av!

Linna Heartlistener wrote:And yes, I know, I know, it's not spring everywhere at any given moment.
...so we're starting with the Northern Hemisphere since it's March.
Though, if you folks in "the South" want to bump this again in fall --errmm, I mean "our fall," that's cool.

Spring is very much here. We're in the midst of what looks to be eight record setting warm days in a row. For this time of year the normal high is 47 F (8 C). Today it will get to 78 F (25 C). Tomorrow and Wednesday it is going to be warmer still.

Krazy Kat wrote:I suppose one sign of Spring can be said to be the departure of Jupiter and Venus from the northwestron skies.

I live on the top floor of a tower block facing northwest and the two planets have been a spectacular feature in the night sky for quite a while now.

It had been overcast the past couple of days, with much needed rain here, the clouds had managed to touch the steepletops but alas it didn't rain. So when last night the skies cleared again and Jupiter and Venus were gone I felt kinda sad. But at least Spring is here.

It seems my post wasn't correct!

Last night Jupiter was in the sky and more bright than ever it was.
I knew it will be leaving in March but having checked,
it will still be here at least untill the 25th.

It was so bright last night that it kept me awake untill it set.
When it was at it's brightest, from across the sky appeared
a Chinese lantern. You know this, those things always give me the heebee geebees.
They look so unearthly.
Anyway I jumped out of bed to the window so as to watch it better,
but when I got to there it had gone.
A helicopter I think moved away from where it had been,
it's red light flashing on an off. Drat it all! Those Chinese lanterns can be confusing.

And on that note - as Jupiter set into the illuminated haze of the city skyline it
gradually turned a firey gold, and then a fierce red - almost like the Chinese lantern. An unusually good coincedence.

I was watching Jupiter, Venus and the crescent moon line up earlier in the month.

Av, fall is my favorite season. So I'm kinda jealous of you right now.

We call it Autumn y'know.

Yeah, it's not quite that either, although it will be in a month or so. Still, mornings are a bit chilly now, but I'm usually down to a t-shirt by 10am, if not before.

We only really get 3 months of proper winter, say a month and a half of autumn, and two months of spring. The rest is all summer.

--A

MsMary wrote:Spring has sprung, the grass has riz.
I wonder where the birdie is?

The bird
Is on the wing.

Ridiculous! Absurd!

The wing is on the bird!

Brilliant.

KK wrote:It was so bright last night that it kept me awake untill it set.
When it was at it's brightest, from across the sky appeared
a Chinese lantern. You know this, those things always give me the heebee geebees.
They look so unearthly.
Anyway I jumped out of bed to the window so as to watch it better,
but when I got to there it had gone.
A helicopter I think moved away from where it had been,
it's red light flashing on an off. Drat it all! Those Chinese lanterns can be confusing.

Spring must be to blame for the waxing-poetic on the Watch.