by Joanie
Taking the cue from our own Anna S. I'm bringing another Quick 5 to the Lair. So, what are your top 5 signs that spring is here?
Mine:
1. The forsythia are blooming. These bright yellow flowering shrubs spring to life from the midst of the drabest, brown pile of branches. What better analogy to new life from a cold winter? Ok, so maybe rodents popping their heads out of the ground, but still.
2. The birds chirping in the morning. I don't mean once the sun pops out, but around 5 am when it is still dark. Chrip, chirp, chirp....STOP THE NOISE! I'M SLEEPING HERE! Oh, um...sorry. Twitter, twitter little friends and yes, please do mate outside my bedroom window!
Mine:
1. The forsythia are blooming. These bright yellow flowering shrubs spring to life from the midst of the drabest, brown pile of branches. What better analogy to new life from a cold winter? Ok, so maybe rodents popping their heads out of the ground, but still.
2. The birds chirping in the morning. I don't mean once the sun pops out, but around 5 am when it is still dark. Chrip, chirp, chirp....STOP THE NOISE! I'M SLEEPING HERE! Oh, um...sorry. Twitter, twitter little friends and yes, please do mate outside my bedroom window!
3. The air takes on a freshness. Now, don't get me wrong, nothing like the freshness of Ireland's air. Seriously, it is pure ambrosia to breathe on the isle of Eire. But it is nicer, filled with promise of beauty and serenity.
4. The clock springs forward. Are you really certain that you are reading this at 8 am? Or is it REALLY 7 am. Are you late for church? Are you wondering why Sunday Morning on CBS is going off instead of just coming on? Is your body protesting, demanding to find that extra hour of sleep it lost?
5. And here in Kentucky land you know Spring is here when college basketball tournaments are on. Yes, last night actually stayed up to watch University of Louisville and Notre Dame go into OT with the Cardinals winning! I don't usually have a specific allegiance t
o any one team within the state, but I've fallen in love with one of their players. Here's a picture of my new hero, Kyle Kuric :D
What about you? Come on, fess up. Does the sight of Peeps in the store make you want to frolic in the tulips? What are your sure signs that spring is here?
4. The clock springs forward. Are you really certain that you are reading this at 8 am? Or is it REALLY 7 am. Are you late for church? Are you wondering why Sunday Morning on CBS is going off instead of just coming on? Is your body protesting, demanding to find that extra hour of sleep it lost?
5. And here in Kentucky land you know Spring is here when college basketball tournaments are on. Yes, last night actually stayed up to watch University of Louisville and Notre Dame go into OT with the Cardinals winning! I don't usually have a specific allegiance t
o any one team within the state, but I've fallen in love with one of their players. Here's a picture of my new hero, Kyle Kuric :DWhat about you? Come on, fess up. Does the sight of Peeps in the store make you want to frolic in the tulips? What are your sure signs that spring is here?
39 comments:
Spring:
1. The flies, ants, and other bugs begin to invade my existence.
2. Flowers (buds) start to peek out of the ground.
3. I get the feeling of senioritis. I have been out of high school for years but still get the feeling that I can't wait for summer, sun, swimming, and fun!
4. Girl Scout Cookies arrive. You know spring is coming when you have Girl Scout Cookies!
5. My family begins making visiting plans. Both parents always visit at the beginning of spring. Right around Easter. So, now that both parents have set visiting dates it's officially spring.
Great post Joanie! Delicious fun. Though I think your 5 is a lot better than mine.
Holy crow! I nabbed him again. Twice in one week, not possible!
Well done Slush have fun with him
Joanie
I am looking forward to the cooler weather here in OZ I do wish it would get here we have the air con on today so hot and I have just got home from The City after having lunch with my romance reader friends and desert at The Lindt Cafe yummo.
What I look forward to when srping arrives
1. The trees start to have green shoots on them
2. The flowers coming out in buds
3. Change in the fruits the stone fruits are starting to arrive cherries anyone
4. Not putting on thick dressing gowns early in the morning
5. I look forward to eating salads
Have Fun
Helen
CONGRATS on the GR, Slush. Don't let him get a whiff of those Girl Scout cookies!
CUTE post, Joanie! And CUTE basketball player... er, um... KITTEN! I meant kitten, really.
I noticed two unmistakable signs of spring around here this week -- the yellow mustard flowers are blooming everywhere. The sides of the road and entire fields are covered in yellow. AND... all the red runny noses and watery eyes of all the allergy sufferers. ACHOO! That's one sign of spring I can live without.
AC
The return of daylight saving time tells me that spring is arriving and so does spring training for baseball. Can't think of anymore right this minute.
1. The world suddenly becomes lush and green
2. At the peak of the day, I can sit outside and read in the sun... and not freeze to death!
3. The sound of birds chirping in the morning
4. A shift in seasonal fruit at the market
5. Going for long walks through the woods... and not having to wear snow boots :)
-The Butterfly
Ooh fun post, Joanie!
1. Snowdrops and daffodils peek their head above-ground. They always make me smile. You know that cherry blossoms are just around the corner.
2. The nights start drawing out - this weekend it got dark at around 6:30! Yay! Not a fan of the clocks going forward and losing that hour in bed - but do like the lighter nights!
3. Hockey season starts to hot up for the play-offs. *g*
4. Sandals start to appear in all the shops - got to get some new ones. All my old faves are dying. Looking forward to picking up some hot shoes in NY this summer.
5. Washing can go on the line. It doesn't dry fully, but you get that lovely fresh smell on it.
(YAWN) Good morning everyone! No, my late arising was not a direct result of the time change. But I did roll over, saw it was 8:30 thought "it's really only 7:30...it's Sunday..you have nothing pressing" and went back to sleep.
Didn't get up till 10 (9) am!!!
Oh, well. There were still a few tweeters out in my yard.
Congratulations Slush! Ewwwww ants etc??? One word: Raid.
How cool you've held onto the hope of a summer vacation. Sigh, those were the good 'ole days.
And Girl Scout cookies? Mine were devoured at the beginning of the month. Devoured.
I dunno Helen...a cozy little thick dressing gown sounds good against the chill mornings of spring....especially when you open the screen door for your kitties to listen to said tweeting birds.
Brrrr...
Isn't that kitten...er, ball player dreamy, AC??
They wouldn't give HIM the ball last night and those mean Huskies from UConn beat them by THIS MUCH....I'm telling ya, my Kyle could have won it for them.
And thanks for the (sniffle) reminder about pollen. The Ohio Valley is said to be the most potent place for allergies.
Hi Butterfly! Welcome to the Lair.
I often wonder what it would be like to have a comgy hammock to swing in and read in the sunshine.
And a walk in the woods sounds lovely. I took one in Killarney National Forest in Ireland. Magic
Ooooo...Anna. Sandals!!! I HEART sandals!
I've got Raspberry toes right now so they would look marv in some new sandals.
And man, I miss hanging laundry on a clothesline. We've gotten all sophisticated with dryers (though I do not own one) but there is NOTHING like the fresh smell of clothes and linens after a day in the sun.
Slush !! Do you have a secret stash of Tim Tams you aren't telling us about? Well obviously the GR knows!
Oooh! Another Quick 5 !!
Signs of Spring? Let me see.
1. My dogs are shedding their winter coats. I spend quite a bit of time brushing them out and leaving the hair in the bushes for the birds to use for their nests.
2. My tulip and daffodil bulbs are shooting up green leaves. They'll be blooming by Easter. They always make me smile as some of the tulip bulbs have been producing for 20 years since I brought them back from Amsterdam.
3. Dogwood trees are budding like crazy.
4. Bluebirds are coming back to their nest boxes and flitting around all over the place.
5. The Spring icing colors have arrived at the bakery. For those of you who don't know while we carry standard colors all year, the home office ships special colors for every season. This year's Spring colors are actually quite lovely. Other years, not so much!
1-Hubby starts a list of new parts the perfectly working jeeps just needs to have before the "jeeping months"
2-allergies...yuck
3-In-laws want me to visit
4- School is almost out
5-Roadside fruitstands start opening up....yeah :0)
Hey Joanie!
What a great topic!
Mine are not so off from yours, except for the basketball.
1) Crocus in the garden
2) Daffodils & hyacinths. I wait, every year, for the green shoots to start popping up. Most years I go out and tell them, "GO BACK INSIDE! IT'S TOO EARLY!" I get SADD disease in the winter, and it really lifts my depression to see some color.
3) The trees start blooming. And I don't mean the Bradford Pears. I mean the maples, oaks and other trees in the woods, lawns and fields--they get a reddish, poofiness to them when they start to bloom and bud in very early spring. I know, then, that it'll be only a few short weeks until we have leaves!
4) The feeling of the outdoors changes. This one is hard to describe. The sky is a bit of a different color, and there's just this shift, on or about Groundhog Day, when I start to feel lighter and more hopeful. Part of it is that the days are noticeable longer. But part of it, I think, is the new life hovering just under the surface of everything, ready to break dormancy, giving an energy to the outdoors which was hidden during the winter.
5) Tree Frogs. We have a pond in the pasture behind our field, and a small bit of woods a little further back, which has a bog in it. I stand by the windows in the evenings, hoping to hear the first Spring Peepers chirping. I missed it this year. They've been going for a while now, but I haven't had a chance to go outside and hear them.
I LOVE the arrival of spring. I wait for it and watch for it because I want winter to be over SO
badly.
Slush, congrats!
You got the bird!
Bluebirds. Sigh Louisa, I would LOVE to have REAL bluebirds around. The past two years, I've had some yellow finch like birds come and go wild in my potted zinnias. Too pretty.
Even as we speak, Grayson is sitting on a perch, looking out the window on high alert for bluebirds.
And cool on the icing colors. I decorated cakes (at home) for YEARS and love the art in it. I love colors. It's almost as if I can FEEL them. Does that make sense?
BJ,
Jeeping? Is that where they ride like maniacs over hill and dale and mud holes???
Blech, mud in the interior of my vehicle.
Blech.
Cassondra,
Now you don't follow basketball? Even during March Madness?? I mean you went to WKU!
Ah, tree frogs. You know this city/suburban girl for years heard this "singing" in the distance during the warm months. I thought it must be the hum of electric lines or...aliens landing :D FINALLY figured out it was FROGS!!!
I like the sound now (much less frightening then the prospect of aliens) as long as the little hoppers stay on THEIR side of the street!
You got it Joan...That's what it is....and they think it's so much fun...lol
Ah, spring, Joanie! My heater is still auto-starting at 5:00 a.m. so I know winter's not quite gone.
My spring signal is the clock changing -- which I totally forgot this morning. Yikes, I feel sleep-deprived!
Where I live, the warming up inspires mosquitoes. Our first foliage is the almonds blossoming.
Yes, Jo...the switch in time does take time to acclimate in my internal clock.
Which I OCD-ingly spend about a week calculating REAL time.
I ugh on mosquitos! I hate the little buggers. I react strongly to their bites to the point of wanting to peel my skin off! After a particularly vicious assault in Savannah a couple of years ago, I googled and discovered when you travel outside your home area, your body is much more likely to react at the "different" proteins other areas mosquitos produce!
In other words, take the OFF!
Nope, I don't like basketball really. I enjoy going to games (or I have, the couple of times I've gone to watch them play live) when I got to sit in a box. That's fun. But I would not watch it on tv or anything.
Several people in my little dirt road community have bluebird boxes out and at the height of Spring it is like a little bluebird airport!
And yes, feeling the colors DOES make sense. My decorators are fantastic (I trained them, why wouldn't they be? SNORK!) They have far surpassed me in their skill and artistry. They are, however, very temperamental about their icings and colors. And when they say "This color just doesn't feel right." I know exactly what they mean. Fortunately with a bit of added sugar or butter and some added gel colors we can usually make the icing behave! Did you know some colors are far better for roses than others? On cakes, at least, that is true.
1. Rain
2. Daffodils
3. Rain
4. Mud
5. Rain
Do you sense the theme? Oh, look it's raining!
Actually I can't complain. It was in the 60s on Friday and it's been close to that all weekend. I haven't had to have the heat on. It's been great.
Thanks for all the congrats on the Chook. He secretly knows where I am hiding the stash of Girl Scout cookies... couldn't find those wily Tim Tams.
At the same time a little spooked: the pattern continued ooooh!!
Spring hasn't really reached into my part of Ohio yet. I'm watching those forythia bushes - but no whispers of blooms yet.
However, I am rooting the Ohio State Buckeyes as they fight their way to the Big Dance. I'll have the game against Penn State on in the background while I work on these tax returns. I guess that's a sign of spring for me - taxes (grin).
Hey Joanie!
Spring in Texas, huh? Hmmm.
1. The Crepe Myrtles are in bloom. Lots and lots of purple and pink trees sorta lets you know spring is on it's way.
2. Ducks in the pool. Okay, this is a spring and fall event. But I do expect to come home from work or get up to let Rocky out and have 4 or 5 ducks paddling around in the pool one morning. Rocky finds this highly ammusing, but the ducks fly away until fall, when they do it at least once then, too.
3. Pool preparation. Hubby will spend a week, (last week) cleaning the pool, adjusting the creepy-crawly cleaner and salt levelts in the saline pump, so the first day over 90 Rocky and I can start our daily laps!
4. Dreamin' In Dallas Our DARA chapter's spring conference is at the end of March, beginning of April! Can't wait for this year as Allison Brennan and Richele Mead are our featured speakers!
5.BASEBALL! April means the start of a new season. Yes, I'll be rooting on my Indians, (even thought they're predicted to suck). Love to watch the boys of summer start in spring!!
1. Crocuses pop up, sometimes through snow.
2. The green buds start showing on the lilac bushes.
3. The air has a nip to it, but it's a different cold than a November cold...can't really explain it.
4. Time to start prepping the lawn mower for the work to come.
5. Bleh, the backyard looks brown and patchy before the green starts popping up.
Adding a 6...hehehe, take down the Christmas lights.
Good to know about the mosquitoes, Joanie. Those little buggers really like my chemistry so I stay clear of them!
MsHellion,
Um, yes. I am sensing a theme in your 5, LOL
At least your tulips will have plenty of water...if they don't drown on the way out of the ground!
My minature yellow rose bush is COVERED in green leaves!
Ok, ok Donna. Those Buckeyes did make it to the big dance...but yanno...Cardinals will eat things that look like nuts...
Just sayin'
OH Suz, I LOVE crepe myrtles!! I keep meaning to plant some but never do. Do you like them bushy or more like a tree?
And I used to be into baseball...the Braves...but not so much anymore.
Aw Joanie, now you better warn your Cardinals. Buckeyes are poisonous nuts!! I wouldn't be messing with them!
Joanie, the crepe myrtles down here are mostly trees. And they are lovely all summer long!
Slush: Girl Scout Cookies arrive. You know spring is coming when you have Girl Scout Cookies
OMG you're so right! I've avoided them this year, but it just wouldn't be almost spring without them, would it?
So, Ms. Hellion, are you saying if it's raining it must be spring? hehehe
Slush, congrats on the rooster!
Joan, I must confess that the sight of peeps does nothing for me. I'm not a marshmallow fan. Chocolate bunnies, howeer are another story.
The morning gets light earlier. I tend to notice that, and the pale green shoots on the trees.
And all the beautiful flowers. Some of them make me sneeze, but that's what OTC allergy meds are for.
And the joggers out at night who have virtually NO reflective material on their persons and don't seem to realize that they are thus invisible to motorists when outside the direct beams of the headlights.
I start sneezing. :)
And, yay, Kentucky won the SEC tourney today!
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