By: Blonde Two

Ladies and Gentlemen, Blondees and Blondettes – I would like to make a very quiet and gentle announcement.  Down here in Devon, Little Miss Spring has arrived.  Please don’t mention to Miss Spring that I have noticed her – she is a shy creature and will probably go away again if she knows that she has been spotted but there are definite signs and she won’t be able to go unnoticed for long.

The birds have definitely noticed, they are singing again and strutting around looking quite important.  The flowers have noticed, there have been snowdrops for a while but the daffodils are now doing their much less subtle “look at me” thing.  My greenhouse (shady all Winter) has noticed and is shouting “Clean me!” every time I look out of the window.  My dog has noticed and is frisking around in between sessions of lying in pools of sunlight (he is twelve).  The cherry trees have noticed and there a pleasant hint of pink on ours.

Blonde One and I went out on Dartmoor yesterday and the moors are hanging on to Mr Winter more than the valleys are.  The grass was a weird shade of yellow and the ground was still very wet.  The streams still looked very cold but we managed to avoid falling in them (just).   However, the granite did glint in the sunshine (sadly not with gold) and the views were long and clear.  We even noticed a few patches of mud that had dried up – only a few you understand, there was still plenty of mud to go round.

We have been on Dartmoor for enough years not to have been caught out by the sunshine and still took as many clothes, flasks, gloves, hats and Jelly Babies as always but we didn’t need all of them and at one point, actually had to take layers off!  A picnic in the rain can be a good thing, the air is still fresh and the exercise is still good, but a picnic in the sunshine with a good view and a good friend is a million times better and a cure for many ills.  It is so much easier to sort the world out with the sun in your face.

So welcome Little Miss Spring – please stay and we will pretend that we haven’t noticed you for a bit longer yet.