The Dog Days of Spring

Wikipedia says the dog days of summer are the days in July and August that are characterized by the warmest summer temperatures.  The Old Farmers Almanac thinks the dog days are the days from July 3rd through August 11th - the days with the least rainfall.  The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius rose just before or at the same time as sunrise. The Romans sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.  There are many definitions of the dog days of summer but they all mean the same to me - the bad days of summer.  If that's true then surely there can be bad (or dog) days of Spring and I think we're in them right now.

We all think of spring with such poignant longing.  We dream of the fragrant flowers on trees, shrubs, and flower beds, the green grass, and the tender little leaves bursting into full beautiful green trees.  Its surely the most gorgeous time of the year.  That's the Spring we dream of.  And this is the Spring we get.

Everything is the same color and it's not green, it's brown.  Or, too often, white.  And it's cold outside and we're all tired of it and discouraged and we all remember that a year ago we had a really warm day.  But what we seem to forget is that this happens every single year.  We go through this stage when our expectations far exceed reality and it's so hard waiting for reality to catch up.  Once it does, we get the Spring we know and love.  The warm temperatures, the lovely colors, and the sweet fragrances.

In the meantime we have to look for signs of things to come and the good news is that they're out there. 

The koi are starting to stick their noses out of the never frozen pond and nibble at the algae collected on the edge.
 
The boy birds have become very interested in the girl birds.

The daffodils and helleboros are sporting buds.

 And the crocuses are abloom.

Even the robins are back which is a sure precursor of Spring.  I can't include their picture though because for some reason the robins are blurry this year.

Anyway, it's all proof that Spring is coming.  I've been comforting myself for weeks now with this theory that our expectations are just too high.

And now Harry announces that he just read that it's official.  Spring is running about six week late this year.  sigh

Very Early Flower Power

What amazing, beautiful weather we're having. Aside from the obvious bad aspects, if this is global warming, bring it on! My mom used to say that the weather really doesn't start to change until St. Patrick's day and she was right. But this year she would have been as thrilled as we are to welcome an early Spring.

Today we opened the pond. That is to say, we did a partial water change, hooked up the UV light and the filters, and started the skimmer. Doing this was like giving each of the fish a little shake and saying, "Wake up! It's Spring". Because right away and still right now they started appearing, swimming around, playing, and looking for a bite to eat. Truly we'd barely seen a sign of a fish this year until this afternoon. They are so happy.

Another early Spring joy is the beautiful and bountiful flower bloom. From crocuses to daffodils to hyacinths to magnolias to the very early flowering almond they are all putting on a wonderful show. And here's proof:

crocuses

Daffodils

Magnolia

Flowering Almond

To give you an idea of how extraordinary this is, the magnolia was in full bloom on May 1st of last year. And the hyacinths and daffodils were blooming on April 15th.

(I can't believe I forgot to photograph the hyacinths but I'll definitely include them with the 'birds returning' photos hopefully tomorrow.

You Capture - Vibrance

Beth's You Capture this week was Vibrance and I'm hoping the old adage, Better Late Than Never, is true because my You Capture submission is definitely late. Hopefully, it's also vibrant:


For more Vibrance, visit Beth at Ishouldbefoldinglaundry.

Tomorrow - back to normal - and, no, that's not an April's Fool joke.

You Capture - Reaching

I'm almost hesitant to participate this week because it's so hard to put a post in front of the post I did yesterday. I did that one because I remembered that my blog is for me and I needed to express my pain and anxiety. And I did it with a lot of trepidation (because I felt like I was just feeling sorry for myself) but Beth encouraged me and then she pointed to me and a world of love and support descended around me from so many people. Thank you to everyone who offered their shoulder, their prayers, and their support.

Now on to You Capture which I'm doing because a) it's therapeutic and b) I need to shift my focus to include everything that my son would want me to include. Because he's generous and loving like that.

I thought 'reaching' would be hard but with a little guidance from Beth who said, "think Spring", I've once again got more photos than I should but, I promise, I've eliminated dozens!

First there was the group of brilliantly colored crocuses all striving to be the first to access the sun's rays.

Then there were the two, different but the same, reaching for each other in a common endeavor to feel the sun.

With this picture I'm acknowledging that not just the flower but every part of the flower, especially the stamen, needs the sun and reaches for it to fulfill its mission.

That's all the biology for today. Now on to the daffodils. Some have to work harder than others to reach the sun.


And some dafs have to power through whatever obstacles stand in their way.

The peonies are just reaching the crest of the earth but their unmistakable color promises some real beauty in a few weeks.

Everything reaches in the Spring. Everything needs the sun. But fortunately for You Capture and me, the colors are never more vivid and glorious than in the Spring.


And all winter long these pine boughs have been stretching and reaching but now that the sun is warmer and closer, they seem to shine with new life. And that's why they got included in this post.

Now to see reaching from many other perspectives and photographed much more beautifully, visit Beth at Ishouldbefoldinglaundry and join in. It's so much fun to share your photos!