Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Spring Psychosis

I walked into my kitchen early on Saturday to make coffee, as I do every morning, to be met with this scene outside of my window.  I thought, I better make it a double! It was April 14 and I could not believe that I was seeing snow.  Big, heavy, wet snowflakes were coming down in rapid succession and I do not think that blizzard like conditions was an inaccurate description.  Alas, Tanner needed to be walked so I resigned myself to the weather and took him out.  He had so much fun in the snow that it improved my mood.  And I knew it couldn't last, right?  I did feel a bit sorry for the wildflowers and daffodils who did not appreciate being wrapped in a blanket of white.  But I guess they've been growing in Sweden long enough to know that snow in April is just not all that uncommon.
Then I went to a long meeting at church in a basement room with no windows to the outside.  When I emerged at 5.00 p.m. I could not believe the beautiful evening that had been brewing whilst I was cloistered below ground.  While a bit chilly, the sun was bright, the snow was melting and hints of spring were back in the air.  We took another walk with Tanner, this one decidedly more lovely and dry and soaked in the beauty of the spring light that shines on Stockholm.  It was a three season day with the snow indicating winter, the temperature feeling like autumn, and the wildflowers indicating spring!  Summer is still lurking somewhere...we hope.  By Monday all the snow was gone from this pier.
 We walked out to Skeppsholmen and Kastelholmen.  The spring light grabbed our attention once again.  Most of the snow was completely gone and it was a lovely day to be out.   I had heard rumors that the cherry blossoms were thinking about blooming. With the snow over the weekend I feared that the blossoms would all be on the ground.  As we turned into Kungsträdsgården, I could see that they weren't in full bloom yet, but there was a definite effort going on!  The cherry blossom bloom is one of my favorite things here in Stockholm so I will be wandering down there regularly this week.  It is beautiful, of course, but definitely the most assuring sign that spring is here and summer will soon follow. There is a cherry blossom festival Saturday. If there is anything blowing around, I hope it's just loose flower petals!   
I do wonder however, how many more 2, 3, or even 4 season days we have ahead of us.

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