Spring is sprung

It's official:

Spring is here, finally!

After a long and very cold (for here anyway) winter, that seemed to be never ending we've just had a week in which the temperature got over 20C, which was just a bit too much really for March, even the back end of March.

It was weird to have been wearing boots, jacket, scarf and gloves (never a hat) one week and then the next to wear just a T-shirt (well, not 'just' a T-shirt, but you get the idea) and to think to myself 'hmmm, flipflops?'
It was only the thought that a pedicure is desperately needed after months of being snuggly in thick socks before my feet are allowed out in public view that stopped the thought in its formation. Nude toe nails on display? I don't think so, I'd feel naked!

The temperature really did get so high though, it was quite odd and almost surreal, there should be a natual sequence to nature and with the longer winter and then the sudden blast of heat everything is out of kilter, my crocuses were just trying to show their faces when they were rudely pushed aside by the tulips and they will probably have been bulldosed out of the way by my daffs while I'm away next week (tee hee).
This is a shame, much as I like the warm weather, I planted all those bulbs for a reason (I'm not a natural gardner - that should make my mom laugh) because I wanted to see all the resulting flowers and now that's unlikely to happen.

I don't want to jump straight to summer, spring is such a wonderful season, with the warmth of the sun but the cool air still, it's so refreshing (especially with all the necessary rain that is so much a part of spring) watching nature come back to life; the lawn is looking green again (well, green with yellow patches and bald bits - but that's what happens when you have a dog with acidic wee) the weeds are growing vigorously (damn them, weed killer is pretty ineffective I've found - even the stuff I illegally brought back from the UK with me (they don't sell it much here, and we have to sneak out in the dead of night to use it so the neighours don't notice) and scraping them out from between the slabs is hard and they still come back, think I need to invest in a weed burner like the crafty Germans use, that looks like fun, might be a way of getting the man about the house to do the weeding...

There are other signs of spring being here - the birds are going crazy, the ticks are out and about in the woods (fun) and all the cafés and eiscafés have got their outdoor seating arranged and being utilised - not that the Germans don't sit outside in the middle of winter (they do) but this week there wasn't a spare seat to be had in the main street here, everyone was sitting in the sun drinking coffee, eating ice cream and smoking, and my son and his friends have had the water guns out.

Yep, spring is sprung.