New paintings and regular art updates.
Never seen a tree trunk like this before. It’s like a hand reaching down grasping something protruding from the earth. The limbs explode above waiting to burst into leaf. I could see catkins but could not identify this gnarly tree. Bishton Hall near Rugeley, Staffordshire was holding a craft fair. Very interesting and enjoyable.
It’s almost the end of tulips and daffodils season. Soon it will be bluebells and other spring flowers… Leaves are opening on the trees. Buds swelling with the water that is falling from the April showers. We decided to go out for the day and headed south for a few miles. You could see more leaves on trees the further south we went. I remember hearing on a TV programme once that you could see the spring slowly creeping up the country as the days lengthened and the daffodils flowered. It might have said it takes two weeks to go from the far south to the far north? Not absolutely certain though.
The snow has gone for now
Warm winds blow from the south
Clear frosty mornings
Left behind
Rain and showers
Water the blossom and flowers
Cold chill twigs
Now wet with buds.
Birds collect bugs
and think of lining their nests
With moss and fluffy stuff
Warm and snuggled
For eggs and chicks
Farewell Winter.
See you later in the year
As the seasons turn.
Winter flees as sun rises higher
Dawn comes sooner
Sunset later
The Earth tips North
sees more of the Sun.
Ground warms
Rain falls, buds swell.
Soon the world will be green
Again.
But in the South?
Autumn makes gains.
It’s raining folks!
Heavy rain that splashes
Wet rain that soaks
Cloudbursting showers
That fall with a splat!
Water from heaven
Falls on the ground
Seeps down below it
By tree roots, found.
Spring needs it’s water
For flowers to grow
But why must it fall in lumps?
I really don’t know!
Not this years ones, they haven’t opened up yet. But they are starting to grow up. I just can’t wait. I’m used to waiting for spring but sometimes it seems to take an awful long time to get here. A couple of weeks ago the temperatures were in the high teens Celsius, last week they dropped to freezing or below, and there was a snow in a few places across the UK. We didn’t get more than a bit of hail and snow here. Meanwhile the daffodils and snowdrops are up. We haven’t had much rain though, so the buds on the trees are not fully open yet…
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was Spring. I decided it was too cold to stand outside and draw daffodils so I decided to draw one from memory. Also couldn’t get my sketchbook page flat so it’s a bit curved… I have some with very strong orange trumpets and bright yellow petals so I think these colours are close.
Yellow and orange. Large flower heds. In front of the house. Cheerful and bright. They delight me when I come home. Signs of spring are showing everywhere now. The trees are starting to blossom, buds are swelling on the branches in my garden. I’ve seen blossom on the trees along the canal. But it’s been dry and sunny, it’s been exceptionally warm for this time in March. I worry because the temperatures are due to fall next week and frost might nip at the buds. But if it stays dry they might be OK. What we need now is rain to swell the buds and start the growth process. Cells expand when they absorb water, the become turgid and then, they start to photosynthesise. We are at the turn of the year.
Tonight the clocks go forward. It means that sunrise is an hour later and sunset also an hour later than in the winter. This is BST or British Summer Time. We revert back to GMT or Greenwich Mean Time in autumn. The idea was adopted in the second World War to give farmers extra time to get crops in? The zero meridian runs through Greenwich, England, and is where the world’s time is set. As you go round the globe there are time zones set covering sections of the globe going forward or back in hourly segments.
At one stage in the UK they kept British Summer time in the winter. This was for two or three years in the 60’s or 70’s. It was darker in the mornings but lighter in the evenings. They found less traffic accidents involving children because although they were tired at the end of the school day they were able to see cars better. There were less deaths. But the government decided against keeping it because people in the far north weren’t having sunrise until 10 or 11am if I remember correctly.
There have been more recent suggestions of creating double summer time, where the clocks would permanently go forward an hour all year round, but then in the summer the clocks would go forward another hour. The idea is that this would save energy. However it has not been approved by Parliament.
I know it’s almost spring because the grape hyacinths come out in the pots at the front of the house. We are the only house with plants growing on the pavement. When I come home it cheers me up. They really do look like little bunches of grapes, don’t they? The blue colour reminds me of bluebells but they don’t emerge until April or May. X
Mallaband-Brown