The lyf so short

Na super. Zwei Stunden Sonnenfinsternis bei allerdichtestem Hochnebel. Eine Stunde später... kommt die Sonne raus, die gelbe Sau.
Danke für gar nix.

Schönen Frühlingsanfang euch allen!

... I just looked out of the window, amazed, and thought "Whoa, now this really is Spring light", and then I realised that it actually officially is Spring now. And it feels like it shows.

That's ridiculous, of course, because even though today is indeed the day of the equinox, it's not like the past days have been several hours shorter and you'd really see whether it's March 18 or March 20 or what. Especially since all the Spring flowers have been here for weeks now. But there really is that "Wow, that's a Spring sky and Spring light!" effect right now.

Maybe because the past week has been mostly cloudy, and because a week ago, the sun was still low enough to disappear behind our uphill neighbours' house - and now, it has climbed high enough to shine through our downstairs windows at 4 pm. So it's rather the lack of light of the past couple of days than the actual light of this day? IDK. It doesn't really make sense. But there you go.

Anyway, Happy beginning of Spring! One of my favourite seasons, and currently looking glorious. WOO HOO!

[Brought to you in lieu of all the posts I should have written in the past weeks... another catch-up is in order, I fear. Someday. When it rains and I've got some extended computer time. Perhaps?]

Ahahah, I just looked at what I wrote about the weather in early February back in 2007:

Otherwise, this January has been disgustingly warm, and I can't even begin to say how depressing it is to read about people complaining about snow on my flist when all I have to wipe off my car here is POLLEN, for someone's sake. Oh, true, we got some snow last week. Lasted a whole day, too. And even four days of frost before that, hurrah! The good news is, I suppose, that the frost didn't even manage to kill the cherry and other blossoms freelancing their way through this so-called winter, but it might still have sufficed to satisfy those fruits that need a few days of frost in order to bud at all. This will be an interesting year. Full of midges, too.
Oh well, winter might yet come and surprise us all. And probably last well into May once it comes.

That... pretty much fits this winter, except we got more than one major winter storm this year (actually, we're getting at least one every other week). And we had three days on which it snowed (but didn't last longer than a few hours). And a few more frosty nights. But on the whole? Same thing. By now, the hazels are fully in bloom, which is unfortunate because in spite of it all, it is "too cold" (i.e., below 15°C) for the bees to fly. (Also, too stormy.)

There are now two options for this winter. Back in 2007, winter did not come and surprise us all and last into May; instead, we had a "normal" March and a seriously funked-up April. (April is, of course, the month of funked-up weather, but in 2007 it wasn't the normal "three seasons in a day" April weather, but rather, warmth and drought for 30 days.) The good thing was that the drought killed all the fledgling midges that would otherwise have been a true pest after the non-existent winter, and also the snails -- never again did I have so many zucchini plants and sunflowers as I did in that year...

Alternatively, we could get a proper winter yet. If we do, can that please happen within the next two or three weeks, and then be over? Because even though I didn't get my winter this year and I like proper winters... it's now February. By February, I begin to long for spring - even in a year that didn't really have a winter.
During Felix' afternoon naps, I've already begun to fight back the brambles; satisfying on the one hand, because it's necessary and I'm getting it done, but depressing on the other hand, because it's tedious. Also because brambles are vicious creatures. I'd rather do some "real" gardening for a change!

Oh well. It's not like I can influence the weather, anyway, but I thought I'd put my request out here just in case. ;)

*reappears from garden, wipes humus off hands, gets mulch out of hair*

Right! The past days have been pretty much perfect, weather-wise: Some rain at night, warm sunshine by day. It was exceedingly windy, though, in the way you usually get by the sea, not this far inland. (This April is really trying hard to re-enact the General Prologue!) I promptly ended up with a stiff neck because I was underestimating the draft, and actually had to resort to Paracetamol just to be able to move my head again.
Today was sunny and less windy, but quite cold (compared to the previous days). Supposedly, we're going to get another couple of freezing nights but pretty warm days. Dangerous combination. So far, only the pussy willows have started to bloom, but the apple, plum and cherry trees already have big fat flower buds, they're just waiting for another warm day or two. I hope their flowers won't freeze at night!

Today I made a panic check on the bees because hardly any were flying out of the hive despite the sunshine. But inside the box, everything was busy and fine, so I expect they're just having a change of generations which just gets ridiculously noticeable because they didn't breed at all until a week ago and the old winter bees really are giving up the ghost now. In general, the bees are probably going to have trouble catching up - thanks to the cold March and "sudden" warmth now, everything is in flower at once, while they are still few and can't hope to use all those flowers. Probably no honey harvest this Spring - unless the fruit trees hold their flowers for at least another week and a host of new worker bees hatches, like, RIGHT NOW. Not likely.
But they're busy breeding and brought in a lot of pollen from the willows. I've now put in the missing frames -- should I have to feed the colony again, I can now add another box on top, which I'll have to do soon anyway. It's not likely that it will stay below 10°C for more than a couple of hours at a go, after all. (Quoth she, crossing her fingers!)

I'm done turning the compost, I'm done preparing the veggie patches, the taters have arrived and just have to germinate, the first starter cultures are peeping out of their pots. Now come the really unpleasant tasks - weeding the flowerbeds, cleaning the garden path, (further) cutting back the raspberries and the brambles, prune the willows (yes, late for that, see note on hazels in previous gardening post). And continue fixing the bloody terrace fortifications. They look quite nice, but they're such a hassle to make. Whine whine.

And... there will probably be a picspam soonish. Because it just isn't Spring without a Spring picspam.

Oof.

You hear that, weather? It's officially spring now! SPRING! You know, the thing with the sunshine and flowers and bunnies and lambs?



(First person to go "Told you so" will get hit by a snowball.)

... Spring is coming!
It's so warm today that the bees have started flying. ♥

Either the magnesium or yesterday's soup (loads of green herbs = loads of iron, magnesium and other good things) seems to have worked; at any rate, Offspring has now returned to his usual activity cycle. Or perhaps he just had a bad lanugo day :P Either way, I am now feeling somewhat less anxious.

My mother gave me the diaries she kept when I was born and growing up, and my grandmother kept when my mother was born and growing up. Rather adorable. My grandmother actually started the diary in Sütterlin script (as late as 1955!), which was initially daunting - I learned Sütterlin in grade 3, and for a while I could write and read it fluently, but as I've never used it, I've mostly forgotten the letters and now take terribly long to decipher them. Fortunately she switched to a more modern cursive after the first entry, although Sütterlin letters (and sometimes entire words written in Sütterlin) kept sneaking into her writing. These days, that no longer happens.
My brother warned that it was dangerous to read these diaries, as surely I'd afterwards expect that my child would develop just as the children I and my mother were (for instance, I apparently skipped crawling, and instead started by walking - with support, of course, because I didn't have the balance yet; and both my mother and I used two-word phrases at 18 months already). That is, of course, nonsense (particularly as Offspring is a boy, and thus even less comparable ;)). Instead, I found them very touching. And reassuring, too. Now that the birth is only a couple of months away, I often find myself wondering how our life as a family will be and whether we'll be good parents etc. etc.. It's good to see that my grandparents and my own parents, who after all did a decent job at it, had the same doubts at that time. And managed to handle the changes and challenges well enough, too.

Also, apparently my father wanted to buy an old farmhouse back then to have room enough for "the child". My mother, somewhat prophetically, noted down "but that will have to wait until later". Indeed! (They actually kept the newspaper announcement for the farmhouse they looked at. Compared to that, our house is downright harmless, although the one my father was interested in was (supposedly) already fully renovated. (Whatever they considered 'fully renovated' in the 80s.) To think of the drama they made when Jörg did buy an old farmhouse! But then, if I had intended to go on the same sort of vacation they made back in the early 80s - driving (!) all the way to Morocco (!) in my mother's (!) jeep - there would also have been panic!drama. Tempora mutantur...)

Outside, everything is covered in a thick layer of bright yellow pollen. We could definitely use some rain by now because not only is all the pollen getting annoying (at least I am no longer allergic, now THAT would be fun >_>) but also because the gardens are getting way too dry. Initially, the hot weather caused all the plants to grow like mad (they're now several weeks ahead of schedule, and our willow trees have never bloomed as beautifully as they did this year), but by now they need water to go on, so there better be some.
The good thing, of course, is that my bees will have absolutely no trouble getting proteins. Good breeding conditions (on minus side, that also means good breeding conditions for the bloody mites). Yes, I have bees again - just in time for the second major nectar (and, obviously, pollen :P) harvest. We'll see whether they'll have produced enough honey for harvesting in June, or whether we'll have to wait for August. (I kind of hope that it'll be the latter - or else that I'll find someone to take care of the June harvest in my place.)

I've been taking flower photos for a couple of weeks, intending to make a spring picspam. By now, the folders span from late February to today, so it appears that (if ever I actually do manage to sort them) this will be the picspam to end all picspams... which no one will have the time to see.

I dyed eggs and made little almond chocolate eggs and strawberry muffins and pansy blossom cookies. Mostly so I have something to give my parents, grandmother and mom-in-law on Sunday but also because we all know that I love rituals and it's good to practice them a little before the baby comes along. I did not find the time to clean the house (the lower level, anyway), but I figure I can do that tomorrow. Or just plead my belly when someone complains. (Hopefully we'll be able to sit outside anyway - but knowing our luck, the long-needed rain will start exactly on Sunday afternoon. Just when we'll have started the barbecue. Because that's how rain magic works, right?) Somehow I was more clumsy than is normal even for me: At breakfast I upset Jörg's teacup (I swear it insidiously jumped into the path of my hand!), while making lunch I brushed the (HOT) handle of the pan with my wrist, and soon after I smashed my hand into a bench that, alas, had been standing there all innocently all day. It'd be all right if massive clumsiness attacks didn't remind me of Bella Swan, and who wants to be reminded of her? :P

I am also overusing the :P smiley today. Don't take it personally.

Náro has found out how to open Tupperware containers.

At least when they're containing Salami. *facepalms* First the milk containers, now this. Nothing is safe anymore, you gals, nothing!

- - -

Also, after only three days of above-zero temperatures and two additional days of rain, I can see grass again.
And there are snowdrops! The excitement, it is killing me.