Spring Flowers

 Nothing says spring more to me than seeing daffodils. With their bright yellow colours and open faces they always look happy to me. Its one thing I have not really planted in my garden and I'm not sure why. Growing up my strongest memory of them is the swathes of them my grandmother planted out side the farm gate under trees where she allowed them to naturalise. I can distinctly recall going out to these with her and picking a bunch and just enjoying the sight of them growing wild among the grass. She died when I was seven so I can't have been very old when I did this with her.

This bunch of daffodils are from my own mother's garden which makes them special (it was her mother that grew them on the farm). I was visiting her and she asked if I'd like to take a bunch home which I duly did and put them in a prominent place for everyone to see. They bring me so much joy when I see them. They are a bright spot in the house that quietly reminds us that winter is coming to an end and we made it through and are now emerging into the season of new growth and promise. We need to savour these small gifts from nature that have the tenacity to turn up every year and hold court for a relatively short amount of time before fading away and going back into the earth to wait patiently for the next year.

I remember reading in a Reader's Digest once when I was a teenager - and had no concept of my own mortality - the words of wisdom from an elderly woman. She said to remember that even if you live 100 years you will only see daffodils 100 times. I have never forgotten that and it is a reminder to stop and savour the little things around us that are transient in our lives but bring so much richness to it.

For me this vase of daffodils is a reminder of the fragility of life and a simple way to lift the day!