February Joy

One of the best surprises about moving to our new house was seeing the snowdrops and crocuses come up in our first February. There were so many and it was such a joy. It took a while to sink in that they were in OUR garden.

They really should have been mentioned in the specs on right move; two bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, garage AND A THOUSAND TINY BULBS UNDER THE SOIL THAT ARE GOING TO BRING YOU JOY EACH FEBRUARY. Never mind the 'close to local amenities and schools,' this alone would be a reason to buy a house!

Come to think of it, they didn't even mention the stunning tree view or the symphony of bird song but we discovered all that when we viewed the house in May and we fell in love.

The lady who lived in the house before us had lived there sixty years and she loved to garden. There are many well established plants which we don't love so much and will replace in time, like the frothy luminous peach bubble bath of an azalea that I think you can see from space and a huge rhododendron that is taking over the world, but we definitely agree on snowdrops and crocuses. These won't be going anywhere!

On Saturday when the sun came out I went to sit by them.

Willow came too. She loves company in the garden and this was the first of the year.

I could really feel the physical effect they were having on me. All of that purple light was so uplifting. I could feel it vibrating in my chest. It was colour healing right there. I sat in it for a long time.

The snowdrops have been up for weeks but all of their flowers had been tightly closed. I was actually wondering if they were ever going to open.

Turns out they were just waiting for a bit of warmth and light just like the rest of us.

I thanked Wendy for getting down on her hands and knees to plant these bulbs, who knows how long ago and I wondered about her. 

Did she get the same rush of joy when she walked up the garden path with her shopping and found them all there waiting to greet her?

I hope so.

I wondered if she telephoned her friends (our house had so many phone sockets and a big list of numbers typed out neatly and hung in the larder cupboard) to invite them for a viewing.

I've been texting mine.

She probably wasn't thinking of the future generations who would get to enjoy them after she had gone but I hope she'd be happy to know they are appreciated.

They must have been a hard thing to leave behind.

I hope you enjoyed them and that perhaps you're feeling that vibration in your chest too just from looking at the photos!

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