Adventures · Cheers

First signs of spring

Happy First Day of Spring!

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another.  The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. – Henry Van Dyke

The Sunday before we left for our vacation, we set our clocks to spring ahead.  We traveled to Jamaica where their clocks are normally set to one hour ahead of our time zone.  Since they don’t change their time back and forth like we do, that means we’re still in Jamaica time until we set our clocks back.

Unlike us though, in Jamaica, they don’t have seasons – crops and flowers grow year round.

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Birds sing by day, and tree frogs by night…every 24 hours.   And the geckos do their thing whatever that is?!

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On the trees, you can see multiple stages of growth.

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Flowers bloom and grow and bloom and grow.

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And nothing there has to wait for layers of snow to melt to grow crops or to find food.

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I do miss the early morning warm beach scene walks we took.

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A walk on the beach is just part of normal life that happens there.

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While I miss the view of all the tropical plants from our room at the resort,

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most of my second thoughts carry me back home.  I take my longing for the beach in stride because I know that I’d miss seeing the signs of the changing of seasons.

Here in Wisconsin, there’s a touch of heartwarming sun helping us melt our icy winter blues away.

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While we were gone, in one weeks’ time, Mother Nature did a magical thing and presto chango we no longer have real icicles on our front doorstep.  And we’ve got deck furniture once again. Soon we’ll sit out there and soak up some Wisconsin sunrays!

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Post Inspiration – Linda G Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday – I take it back!

PS – How about you, do you enjoy the 4 seasons or not?  What is your favorite first sign of Spring?  

 

 

39 thoughts on “First signs of spring

  1. Shelley, your time in Jamaica must have been heavenly. Blue skies, sandy beach and heat! At least you can come back to warmer weather here and spring. True spring. 🙂

    1. I tried hard to bottle it up and bring it back for you, the best I could do was take pictures! Yes, true spring is happening here – so I hope! We’ve had snow well into May here, so let’s just believe that our February was the last of it!?! Soon you’ll be out on your bike enjoying the warm weather. Ah…

  2. The quote is perfect. It’s still wintery outside today, but it’s spring darn it. Your photos from your recent vacation are lovely. So… NOT winter. *le sigh*

    1. Thank you, Ally. I hope the photos brought you a bit of warmth for the day! 🙂 We will see warmer weather someday soon, I’m counting on it!

  3. Oh, Shelley, Jamaica looks absolutely beautiful. I bet you enjoyed your time there. Just keep telling yourself “It IS spring. It IS spring. It IS spring!”

  4. I am glad spring is springing where you are.

    My first sign of spring is the Daffodils, Crocuses and the Primroses. The weather has been changeable but Spring sprang here a couple of weeks ago. My Magnolia is is full bloom and the Plum blossom is just on the verge of coming out. This is my favourite time of year. 🙂

    1. Thank you, Kristian. I bet your gardens are beautiful. I hope you’ll be sharing photos of the full blooms?! Enjoy the beauty that surrounds you at this time of year!

        1. Share the link of your photos, I love looking at them! Sorry to hear about your yard. That’s a nasty combination drought and chickens oh my!

  5. I’m glad you had a great time down there Shelley. Yay for your home emerging from the snow! In Vegas, it gets cold in winter but nothing like your cold, and some trees lose leaves. My Ash tree is already budding!

    1. Thank you, John. I’ve been admiring the scenes of Las Vegas – your Instagram posts have kept me in view of the warm skies you get to see year round! Soon, in Wisconsin, we will have some green instead of white to see!

      1. I’m sure you will, and that corn field will be replanted too. You must see deer going in and out of the field corn frequently. I’m glad you like my photos! It’s 61 here this morning, but only because it’s been overcast all night.

        1. Yes, we’ll have corn or soy beans. No matter what the crop, yes, the deer frequent the field and our yard. Soon we’ll be able to watch the fawns strolling behind their moms. Yes, love your photos! Enjoy your 30 degrees warmer than Wisconsin morning!

          1. Thank you Shelley! It sounds just the same in your county as it was for me in Michigan all those years. I was surrounded my soy beans and field corn too. The deer came out all over the yard too, so fun to watch. I really appreciate your liking my photography. I try for the best photos every day. Honestly, I am getting closer to shutting this blog down, it’s become less enjoyable for a couple reasons, and I just don’t get the comments here compared to Instagram. I’ve been on WP for ten years plus…

          2. You’re welcome! The wild animals are a joy to watch. Today we had an eagle and the crows fighting over the rabbit remains found in the snow. Blogging is a challenge, I understand your frustrations. I’m horrible at getting around to commenting, I try my best to keep up with replying to comments. Sorry I don’t make it to your blog as often as I do liking your photos on Instagram!

          3. That’s OK, no worries. The site takes about 100 views a day is all. Instagram as you mentioned indirectly is much better for interaction with others. I’ve got a serious problem with businesses trying to follow, I don’t allow it as it tosses your ACTUAL follower count to the wind. These asswipes never stop trying to follow. They give not one damn about our blogs, all they want is free advertising!

          4. You know way more about the blogging world than I do…and photography for that matter! I just enjoy little moments of joy hearing from people when they are able. I appreciate your comments tremendously! Thank you!

  6. Welcome back! Love your photos – what a photographer’s paradise you found…as well as the fantastic beach to walk on. My favorite sign of Spring is when I see the first green shoots (bravely!) poking out of the ground – usually crocuses; although I saw some iris showing up already.

    1. Thank you for the warm welcome back! It’s hard to find something not fun to photograph in Jamaica. So many pops of color all around.
      I love finding those brave little green shoots too. Mine are still buried under snow, maybe in April I’ll find some.

  7. Welcome home. Thanks for sharing the lovely pictures. It looks like you had a wonderful time. I hope spring is really here.

    1. It was our 5th trip there, once you go (all inclusive) the beach will keep calling you back! Yes, yay Spring! I bet your Wisconsin friends happy with the warmer weather we’re finally seeing up north!?

  8. Wonderful memories of the beach to help you process through the remaining snow. Glad you deck is clear and now the fur baby has a little more room for business. I am loving that even though it is still right chilly, there is hope in the air of flowers just around the corner. I saw the tulips were already out at Lowe’s. It;s coming. Yay.

    1. Yes, thank you, we do have wonderful warm memories to carry us onward to Spring! I love the early flowers. I only have a few of those planted in my garden, and once the snow melts I love to walk around the yard to see the first sprouts popping up. Spring is coming, yay, is right!

  9. That quote sure sums up Spring Shelley. The calendar is not in sync with Mother Nature – chilly and flurries or some type of wintry precip for us this Friday. No surprises – this is MIchigan. I think my favorite first sign of Spring is when the trees come out. I have described the flowering trees as frothy, resembling a group of giggling girls on their way to prom. That one or two days you walk down the street, and shades of dark and light pink and white are spilling everywhere … then a brisk wind or a rainstorm comes along and they are scattered on the ground. The day the green leaves come out and make a canopy up and down the street is a sure sign as well. The trees lose their luster once the leaves drop and you have to rake ’em.

    1. Aw, Linda, you’re so poetic – I love those words of creativity to describe Spring! I adore how you take note of the world you see, thank you for sharing your thoughts!!

      1. You are welcome Shelley and that is the best way to describe those flowering trees – one day I’ll walk out and it is a pastel wonderland. I can’t use that descriptions nowadays though because I don’t personally see any girls getting ready for prom night but I follow the “Heritage Park Photo of the Day” on Facebook. The photographer documents happenings around the park, nature or otherwise – they have quite a few events and people go there to pose for weddings, proms and homecomings as well as having events like 5Ks, etc. Anyway, I see the pictures of the girls for prom and they look nothing like that these days – the dresses are more like going to a club. Sometimes I miss the good old days, but the antebellum look for dresses just would not make it in our modern society. Nor would those corsets to get the slender waistlines! And now I’m off to salvage a few steps in the doom and gloom outside.

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