A prelude to spring….March🌼

I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m not fooled…Spring!, Its playing with us..I can’t help but sense winter is out there still lurking…it will hide out in the Highlands, woods and rural areas until we change over our winter wardrobe for spring and summer, then cover up our lovely sprouting brave flowers in a layer of whiteness….think you getting me huh!!!, I’ve dusted off two light weight jackets that’s as far as I’m going until at least may, mother nature has a wicked sense of humour😏😁.

On Monday despite the biting high winds, or was that inspite of I never know at the time., What was apparent though was this all consuming need to leave the confines of the flat, there are those days cabin fever takes hold the greatest, Nature being the bossy hussy she is, that alluring Siren, she softly calls my name, and I go to her most willingly, we almost have this symbiotic relationship at times…Mother nature puts on her spring concert…and while admiring her greatest creations my batteries charge to the max…

Walking about the still rain sodden grass, I picked my way gingerly over to the more sheltered areas offered freely by the local assortment of trees, Ash, Sycamore, Silver birch, and Beech trees despite having no leaves to speak of yet form a welcome barrier between myself and the whipping wind…it not only blew through my jacket, but stung my cheeks, I could feel the warm glow across my face as I walk, A lot would infer insanity going out in it and who knows just maybe their right, but since my very early years escaping the claustrophobic feel of concrete walls was oft times one of necessity, needed for my well being…there are times these same walls I go to for a sense of safety, claw at my peace, with echoes of the past,cold hard restrictions looming high above me, a prison ….a nice prison mostly with soft furnishings, but one I have break out of none the less….

It was hard to stay upright as my feet slip and slide upon the wet ground, finding it heavy going, I tire easier than when I walk usually, Stopping often to not only take pictures of the bright citrus clumps of yellow daffodils being buffeted cruelly by the harsh winds, but to get my own breath back., Today those daffys are not just nodding their golden heads, their bowing deep into their grassy beds, like they also are trying hard to escape the worst., White silky plum tree petals are blown way across the field like so much confetti, harking on the wedding between the end of winter and subtle beginning of spring, for these short weeks they coexist,…

Dense carpets of early violets fair far better, sheltered from the worst, by solid stoic tree trunks, brushy copses of Sloes, Elder and May, I watch as tiny Wren, chubby Blue tits and Robin pause for a lull before bravely risking flight to the next limb….Magpie cackle maniacally almost laughing at them, being larger can’t help their cause much though, sitting high up on tops of swaying trees…I felt almost seasick just watching them😁, think they feel the same as I pick my way slowly on the boggy grass, like a drunken sailor aboard ship stumbling to keep upright….

I was soon at my favourite spot, Its almost tunnel like, a space you walk through or maybe thats under😁, but with a canopy of trees above you, it feels safe, protective even…today they dance in the cool wind, creaking and groaning, skeletal limbs aloft….as I go through the dark corridor, I pause to rest against an old gnarly Elder, Its trunk knotted and twisted around itself, it’s beautiful none the less, I’ve endless pictures, captured in different seasons, from it undress in winter devoid of leaf, pale fresh green spring bud, to its leafy green splender of summer resplendent with frothy white heads of sweet musky flowers, …my hands run against its sharp bark, and as I rest my hand upon its knotty skin, I feel it bend and sway, Its branches clattering against themselves, and it’s through this grand old elder I feel the true power of the wind, my hand swaying with its movement..I feel part of the elements at force…in its core….if you still think it’s madness then so be it…but momentarily I felt at one with something far bigger than my imagination can ever begin to comprehend, bigger than the self, Its small reminder of how small and insignificant we really are….

I love these walks, my body hurts and protests after but in my head and heart I’m never more alive, my veins still singing with nature’s goodness, just parking my butt under one huge old Birch tree, resting my back against its strength, the sun making one of its rare appearance during the week, my feet divested of shoes, toes ticked by cool grass, eyes closed, listening to the sweet songs of birds, who were full of excitement for the warm scent of spring, singing loudly just because….big fat lazy bees hovered the grass humming along with their own tune….I heard in that one hour a hundred different voices, not a one human…what a privilege ….and in this world where we struggle to make ends meet….this is all free….anyhow enough of my jabbering I hope your all well, enjoying your weekend…whatever your doing, stay warm, stay well and look after you…. 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛