Warming Signs

Brrr... it's the middle of April and still so cold! This time last year, we were basking in sunshine, picknicking in Christchurch Meadow ... no jumpers, no coats ..

Feeding the swans, and geese ..


And the ducks ..

A typical Sunday afternoon in Oxford, the boats were bobbing, the students were rowing, the swans were hissing, the ducks were mating and the sun was shining ....

Not this year, oh no. The pictures above were taken on 9 April 2007.

Today, on 18 April 2008 the sky is grey, the wind is fierce, the air is bitterly cold and the sun has gone on holiday ...


I spent some time wondering who I should write a complaint letter to, and then thinking about getting my thermals out in order to venture into the garden to find some warming signs that spring (ha ha) or even summer (rofl), is really on the way. Well in the end I did neither so my photographic expedition in flip flops and jogging pants was quick and painful but heart warming if not skin warming because luckily, nature never lets me down and here is what I found ....

FIGS!!! Hurrah, I love figs, they are my very favourite, especially when freshly picked. I never buy them, they are just too expensive.

Lily of the Valley ... more and more each year ... Mmmmm..


Winter Jasmin - quite apt


Sunflower shoots !! I'm growing LOTS and LOTS


Runner bean sprouts, just a few in the garden otherwise they take over the world ...

Brasicas - never enough especially after the pigeons, caterpillars, mice, rabbits etc., have had their fill. My crop last year was wiped out entirely by caterpillars. The pigeons were quite naffed off about that too ... grrr...

Sweetcorn, particularly nice raw and goes well with avocado in salads. I missed it when I didn't grow some ...


My first strawberry flower! These are alpine strawberries which I grew from seed last year..

With such a profusion of yellowy and summery things sprouting in my garden, like a perennial sundance, I hope they go some way to encouraging him to put his hat back on and return with Mr Blue Sky. Otherwise I might have to go on holiday too!