I really wanted to write about all things Spring, Schiaparelli pink rhubarb, a beautiful plant mysteriously “forced” from the earth in dark sheds in Yorkshire. Milk fed lamb, meltingly tender, sweet and delicious served with wild garlic. Morels, sardines, native oysters, blood oranges, radish, new potatoes and asparagus. However this year I just haven’t got the same enthusiasm for eating tiny, baby lambs. It could well have something to do with Cumbria Jane*. (I can remember talking to her on the telephone and hearing the lambs she was hand rearing bleating in the background).
* All friends named Jane have a distinguishing tag i.e. Cumbria Jane lives in Cumbria, on a farm, Young Gorgeous Jane … self explanatory, Old Age Jane looks after the elderly etc…etc…
It’s the feeling of renewal that’s energizing me. Watching tightly wrapped buds of pale pink and white explode into exquisite blossoms, heavy with pollen. Shaking off our Winter coats and emerging into the sunlight.
I want to visit Greece in May and eat locally produced cheeses and honey for breakfast. Walk along beaches and pick Spring flowers from the hillsides. Eat fish, caught that morning cooked on the grill with lemon and herbs for lunch.
As I progress through life I realise more and more that we are only here for a short time and all the things we attach such value to: possessions, money, homes are just stuff that passes through our hands and lives and on and on through the lives of others.
It’s rather like a computer game, you reach Level 30 only to find that this has simply unlocked the path to the next 60 Levels!
So, as Spring emerges, dazzlingly fresh and new, embrace the feeling of wonderment and joy. Get out for a walk in the countryside or in one of our wonderful parks. Watch the watery sunlight filtering through the trees.
Go down to the coast, dip your foot in the icy water and feel the sand between your toes.
Spring fever is here, indulge yourself and seize the day.
Copyright © Ffiona Reid-Owen (2011)
