First Day of Spring!!

"Spring has returned.  The Earth is like a child that knows poems."

                                                

                                                                                                       -- Rainier Maria Rilke

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If Rilke is right, then that child is having a major temper tantrum.  This is what my first day of Spring looks like, up here on the ridge...

The boys and I got drenched on our walk this morning; the river is flooding, the air is cold...but still the flowers are starting to bloom, trees are getting a nimbus of color around them as their tiny leaves begin to break out on bare branches.

I'm going to post some photos today, in celebration of the day.  Some are from Scotland, a few from around here...

Edinburgh Castle, a few Springs ago.  The entire Mound above Princes Street Gardens is covered in daffodils.  It's a beautiful sight at one of my favorite spots in the world.

A few blocks from our house in Edinburgh:  The grounds of the Manse, where the vicar lives, next door to the Kirk (the building in the photo).  The daffs are planted everywhere, popping out of the grass in massive clumps of vibrant yellow.  When I get off the mountain, this is something I'm definitely doing in my garden.

This next shot is just so...I don't know, Scottish, I guess, and always such a reminder to me that it was Spring.  All over Scotland there are baby lambs everywhere, frolicking and jumping and playing.  Over the years I made Alan pull off the road, I don't know how many times, just to watch them play.  This particular photo was taken by my sister when she came to visit.  We were in the Highlands, and these twins were just so adorable.

This morning, braving the weather, I took this shot of some daffs in my side yard.  They've grown all by themselves in this corner of the fence.  I think when the guys did the landscaping last year, they must have tossed the bulbs in the corner, and somehow, through all the mud and shoveling and ditch digging for the sprinkler system, the bulbs were lost and forgotten.  I love how daffodils can just crop up anywhere, when you least expect it.

I have a thing for sunsets.  I can't tell you how many sunset pictures I've taken over the years I've been doing photography.  Someday I should gather up the best and do something with them.  They span the globe, from the South Pacific to the harsh islands in the far north of Scotland, from the Mediterranean to the wilds of Canada, from one end of America to the other.  What can I say?  I love sunsets. 

This picture was taken from my back deck last year on the first day (evening) of Spring.  Living on a mountain sometimes has its own rewards... 

So, Happy Spring!!  We made it through another Winter, and now there's nothing left to do but celebrate...