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Spring is on the way!

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by Member 25348569 2 views

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Well, seeing as my weight has crept back up to 108 Kg - that's 17 Stone to you guys - I decided a bit of a hike was in order on Saturday so I yomped along the North Downs (which are South of London, by the way) for a few hours. As we're still in a (for us) cold spell and have been since before Christmas, I wasn't expecting much in the way of harbingers of Spring. But I came across this little stand of Snowdrops pushing their way through the frozen ground.

Happy Days!

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l243/neilb_uk/IMG_0007.jpg

:D

50 replies

by tig2

I didn't realize how desperate I have been for a glimpse of something green and growing!

by Member 25348569

I was surprised to see them yet as it has been cold here for over a month. Though this time last year, to the day, they were fully out.

Next comes the hazel catkins, then coltsfoot, primroses and daffodils and we're on our way. I'll post some more photographs once I have them.

Cheer us all up.

:)

By the way, my knees got SO dirty getting the photographs!

Blackthorn (May) is the real sign that Spring is here. "Don't cast a clout 'til may is out!".

by av .

Spring is still a long way off over here. Brrr. Its cold, gray and we're expecting another Nor'easter this weekend.

Thanks for the lovely picture, Neil. It cheers me up. You always take such great pictures. I still use your picture of Bluebells in a meadow that you took a while back as my Spring wallpaper.

Snowdrops are a welcome sight.

AV

by Member 25348569

What's the weather like where you are at the momemnt? Better than here and a LOT better than where Tigger is freezing!

:D

by hal 9000

We've just had the tail end of a Cyclone lashing the place here and it's been cool.

Of course after it passed it got Humid and very sticky then to top things off it's combined with another low and just got plain Nasty. ;)

Col

by dmambo

We still have 8-10 weeks of ski season left. Don't hurry it along! Even though we've had only one major accumulating storm, with only one exception, the weather's been cold and the slopes are in great shape.

Virginia and Maryland are stealing snow that rightfully should be in Vermont and I'm looking into taking legal action to have the storms pushed northward 400 -500 miles.

A crocus is like a funeral flower for ski season. Save the good weather until May!

by Member 25348569

It's a snowdrop and comes out much earlier. I don't think that they are native to the US. You can enjoy your skiing for a while, yet.

:)

by mjd420nova

The first ROBIN (red breast) of spring has arrived in northern California. They have built a nest and soon may have nestlings. This is a bit early by about two weeks but hopefully they'll grow big enough to fly away before the BlueJays arrive and chase them off.

by jck

Hope by this time next year, I'll be seeing you and GG and Shellbot.

As long as I don't go and nearly hurt myself to death in the meantime. :^0

by charliespencer

I think they're almonds; they may be ornamental apricots or peaches. Clearly something in the prunus family, and way to early for serious fruit-bearing members of the family.

by steffi28

Maybe in London, but not in Liverpool :( I am yet to see the slightest sign of spring not even a snowdrop :(

by dmambo

We had beers out on the deck while watching snow melt.

It wasn't exactly lounging around weather, but it was bright sun and temps were several degrees above freezing.

Hope Spring comes to you in full force soon, Neil. Seems you've been waiting for a while now.

by Member 25348569

The weather is stuck in a pattern and we need a good storm to break it. We need warm and wet and we have cold and dry and have had that mostly since December.

They say "if March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb." and it's come in like a lamb so maybe the end of March will kick-start spring.

by oz_media

We've had an early spring (as you may have noticed with the Olympics, maybe we should have bid on the summer games instead.

I think we're in for a long scorcher of a summer this year, which is cool because I have some good music festivals to see and some trips to make stateside for a couple of tours and Whistler this summer too. Hoping it stays this way and only gets better.

Next week, the weather is forecast to hit close to 18 degree by the weekend!.

(just over 64F !!)

I am already set to do some camping this weekend too, might get a bit drizzly but that's okay it's always drizzly in a rain forest and there are no fire ban areas, I can handle basic weather like rain off and on, at least it isn't cold though.

Daffs and crocuses are out already!!

Even Washington's world famous tulip farms are already spring up too, I suppose an early tulip festival for them this year.

by Member 25348569

But the Frozen North is still just that.

Temperatures here are 8C or so (46-47F) which is still a few degrees under what it should be by now. Daffs are in the tight bud stage most places. Tulips? Not even showing.

:)

by oz_media

I was supposed to pop over for a few days in Jan but decided to hang out here instead, you had a bit of a nippy winter, whereas we didn't even see winter here this year (on the West coast anyway). I was in Calgary, last month, for two days and there was snow there still, ick

I think it's going to be a long, hot summer for us (fingers crossed), so I am planning weekend get aways and road trips with friends to best utilize each and every weekend and not find myself hanging around and wasting the summer.

Only problem is, I had a good business idea yesterday and now a freind and I are looking at working all summer, but I dunno, I was kinda looing for R&R this year, last year wore me out. So I'm really not to eager to commit myself to a summer of hard work this year, but the financial potential is pretty enticing...on paper anyway.

by gsg

Yes, I'm sitting here with my first spring sinus headache, my bottle of Zyrtec, and my tissues to catch my sneezes. The pollen count for cedar is officially high, and we're supposed to have our first thunderstorm with possibility of tornadoes tomorrow night.

On the plus side, I was able to fire up the grill this weekend and grill myself a nice juicy steak, and yummy grilled artichokes.

ummmm... steak...

by steffi28

I know it has been alot longer than I thought it had, but im fitting right back in where I left off, or at least trying to, have been a little less impure than usual so far...

by hal 9000

It's my duty to report your evil ways to the Site Moderator. So when I see any Impurity I will do so. :p

OH and another one of the changes is that you can not longer insert Smilies in the Title Bar. :^0

Col 0:-)

by steffi28

You wouldnt do that to me now would you??

Oh and while I got you here accept my fb friend request damn you Col, then I have two places to terrorise you :p

by boxfiddler Hot topic

Gods, the marvel of it. The morning I wake just knowing Spring is here, wandering the day feeling some huge secret is bursting at my seams. I love winter, for the knowing morning.

by hal 9000

And have lost your way, it was 33 C here yesterday and currently at 0800 it's pushing 26 C and rising.

Not even close to looking like Autumn let alone feeling like it here yet. Maybe it's all that Global Warming which means that Winter is now going to be just a cooler summer. :0

Col 0:-)

by nicknielsen

I saw daffodils on the way to Myrtle Beach this morning. I might have stopped and got a picture if I hadn't been surrounded by those semis...

by av .

I hate being surrounded by semis. Lets not mention those tandem-semis (or whatever they're called).

AV

by hal 9000

I'll open a Air Lock door behind you if I get too upset. :p

OH and what is a Face Book?

:^0 :D :^0 :D :^0 :D :^0 :D

Col 0:-)

by steffi28

I only said accept my fb request, you must clearly know what a facebook is if you got that from the initials!!! :p

Col dear, I dont think you would ever really lock that door, you would miss me too much, and then who would you have to insult with blonde jokes??

by Member 25348569

The wild garlic is sprouting in the woods on the top of the Downs. This place is my secret hoard of leaves for the next month before the flowers come out.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l243/neilb_uk/IMG_0029.jpg

A close up

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l243/neilb_uk/IMG_0036.jpg

tonight's supper of stir-fried chicken and noodles with chilli, ginger and wild garlic.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l243/neilb_uk/IMG_0039.jpg

Spring is coming at last!

:D

by santeewelding

Put that bowl there like that -- me not having eaten yet today?

Good work. Is that big, green leaf the garlic? Are there cloves?

It's striking! Had a bowl just yesterday of noodles, snow peas, and more, including fresh things I chopped up and added. But, nothing like what you have.

by Member 25348569

That one bowl of noodles had a double handful of leaves as the young leaves cook down like spinach. The flavour is quite light but obviously garlic.

When the leaves get a bit bigger in a couple of weeks, I will shred a load of them into mayonnaise for a lovely garlicky dip for crudites, bread - just about anything, really!

The flowers are very good in salads and also a bit of fun dipped in tempura batter and deep fried. The bulbs can be used like cultivated garlic but are single and much smaller.

Sorry about the picture but it was my supper-time!

:D

by av .

I have a lot of greenery that looks like that. How can you tell its garlic? Does it smell? We have wild onions that smell, but I've always been afraid to eat them if I didn't plant them.

I am so happy that Spring is finally here. The snow has melted and we have lots of mud, glorious mud! There is some nice moss though. It feels like a carpet when you walk on it.

Dinner looks very yummy. Might have to try that recipe.

AV :^0

by Member 25348569

if you rub a leaf between finger and thumb. That's just as well as there are a couple of plants which are similar when they first come up which are pretty poisonous!

The flowers, which come along here in May and June, look like this (which is a shot of the same site taken last May).

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l243/neilb_uk/IMG_0058.jpg

I don't know if it's found in the US but if you've got it in your garden, it's considered an annoying weed over here. I believe

:)

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