St Olave’s churchyard, 2 April 2015
Hurrah, it’s spring.
It felt like a long winter. They always do, but this one was worse than usual. But hurrah, it’s spring, and the daffodils have been blooming on the city walls and in so many other places too, like the churchyard of St Olave’s, pictured above.
Over recent months I haven’t been able to update this website as often. But I’ve still been taking notice of the local patch and taking photos whenever I could, and looking forward to warmer days and lighter evenings.
In late January I noticed this striking window display in the Oxfam bookshop on Petergate. A month after the winter solstice, celebrating the fact that the sun was climbing back up to its springtime strength. Whoever assembled this was feeling a lot more creative than I was at that time, and I’d like to thank them for it, somewhat belatedly. The words on the pile of books are of course lyrics from a well-known song.
Oxfam bookshop window display, 28 Jan 2015
And a little later, the same shop sprung up a window display of flowering wellies. Same person? Deserves recognition, whoever you are, thank you.
Oxfam bookshop window display, 10 March 2015
And then after the long winter and its gloom, the light came back and it was proper strong light, getting higher, after the spring equinox, and I noticed the lengthening shadows on the Shambles, as I went walking, following the shoppers.
Walking, shadows, sunlight, Shambles, 25 March 2015
And on Good Friday I went for a wander in the local parish and found daffodils in the churchyard of St Olave’s.
St Olave’s churchyard, 2 April 2015
And tulips in the Museum Gardens.
Museum Gardens, 2 April 2015
It’s not just about flowering, it’s about bright new green leaves on the hawthorn hedges. Here on my patch, this week, an evening in early April. And probably on your patch too. Hawthorn is a common shrub, but it’s also a very beautiful thing at this time of the year.
Hawthorn leaves in evening sun, Clifton, 7 April 2015
On that same walk through the local patch, not long after it had lit up the hawthorn hedge, the sun set. Pictured here at 7.41pm over the ings, from Rawcliffe Meadows.
Silhouetted trees, leafless, will be getting their leaves again soon, as they always do. It happens every year but it’s still amazing, isn’t it. These things still fling forth their growth, every springtime, when the strengthening sun warms us all.
In celebration of this leap into springtime I hope I’ll be able to update this website more regularly, now lighter evenings enable more wandering.
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Happy springtime, dear readers.
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