SPRING IS DEFINITELY ON THE WAY!

Instead of incessant rain, we have had a few hours of respite and this morning, after a very long sleep, which was much needed, the sun was shining and it was glorious to see, when I pulled back the curtains.  

Mr. HCB, ever mindful of the day and the different challenges of Blip, told me that the beautiful “Delft Blue” hyacinth - the blue named after Delft pottery - that my sister, Karen, had given me for my birthday in 2020, and which had been nurtured by him in the greenhouse, was starting to flower.  It’s not quite as prolific as it was back then, but it’s beautiful to see and there is still a lovely perfume.

It is amazing that flowers keep coming every year, although perhaps smaller - but they still bring joy with them.  This will now be placed in the bowl that belonged to Mum, so that I can enjoy it on my kitchen windowsill.  So thank you, Karen, for this gift, which I hope will keep on giving for many more years.  I have just put a frame round it, using my Carbon app.

I know I have used this quote before, but it is so true, so bears using again:

“If thou of fortune be bereft, 
     and in thy store there be 
          but left two loaves, 
               sell one, and with the dole, 
buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.”
John Greenleaf Whittier

P.S.  Every day is a school day, as they say - something else I learned today:
John Greenleaf Whittier’s middle name is thought to mean feuillevert, after his Huguenot forebears.  The Greenleafs were Huguenots who had fled France during religious persecution, going to England. They anglicised their family name of Feuillevert to Greenleaf.