Spring has Sprung

Spring is finally here. It’s a pleasant 17° ceclsius outside and people have started walking around barefooted. Yes, BAREFOOTED! Just this afternoon I saw a pretty girl strutting around kaki ayam at the campus, wearing a cute yellow sun dress, happily showing off her perfect pedicured toes. People going around barefooted is just one example of the telltale signs of spring. Other signs include budding of the trees, warming of the temperatures and the blooming of cherry blossoms and daffodils. I’m not particularly crazy about daffodils despite its status as the most popular flowering buds. But Cherry Blossoms, now that’s just the most gorgeous flower.

The first time I saw the cherry trees, I just went gaga. They were soooooo beautiful, looking exactly like the Cherry Blossom trees in Memoirs of a Geisha. Why was I so sakai? Well, in my previous life, the closest I got to a Cherry Blossom came in the form of a flower-themed calendar. Untouchable. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw the first cherry blossom in Christchurch. I had to ask hubby to do a U-turn (illegally!) so I could get a closer look and take some good shots. I think I got too carried away, what with the spring fever and all, and like some woman with psychiatric disorder, I started plucking the blossoms excitedly. Pathetic huh? I think I would’ve plucked more if it weren’t for hubby’s obvious embarrassment. He was waiting by the sidewalk, saying “Bah dear, capatla…” So, I stopped plucking and took pictures instead. Working hard.... Checking to see if anyone's looking... Mission accomplished!

Spring is indeed a magnificent season. It's only the beginning of September but I've already noticed a remarkable change in the landscape around the city. Flowers are blooming everywhere and trees which appear to be dead during winter have come alive. Even the birds are behaving differently. Recently, I've noticed that the birds around my neighbourhood begin to twitter noisily at 4.00am, every day! But that's okay. Compared to what I had to endure in the cold winter months, that's really nothing. Now that winter is over, I can look forward to sunny days and cheaper electricity bills! I can hang my clothes out on the line and have the smell of fresh air on them! Yes, being able to hang your clothes on the line to dry is a luxury here. Kasian me, I know ;-)...Well now that spring has sprung, I better enjoy it as much as I can :-)

*The Daffodils I saw today reminded me of this famous poem.  

"Daffodils" (1804)  
I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud 
That floats on high o'er vales and hills, 
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils; 
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. 
Continuous as the stars that shine 
And twinkle on the Milky Way, 
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. 
The waves beside them danced; 
but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay, 
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought 
What wealth the show to me had brought: 
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood, 
They flash upon that inward eye 
Which is the bliss of solitude; 
And then my heart with pleasure fills, 
And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850)