Spring Is Here!

There are many indications that spring has arrived.  It's one of my favourite things, to be dandering down a street, perhaps in a bit of a gloomy mood, or tired from traveling, and suddenly I look up and there before me is a tree in full bloom, the first one I've seen so far, and it brings hope to my heart and renewed energy and enthusiasm to my life. 

So I thought I'd share some of this year's spring displays with you.

The snowdrops at Blair Castle, dripping wet from the falling snow....

Fragile pink blossoms at the Edinburgh Zoo, amongst barren trees and brown bushes...

 
At Bothwell Castle in Scotland, a plethora of green and an inkling of pink...

In London, amidst starkly-outlined buildings of grey and blue, a thin and even spindly tree stands tall amongst the modernity, reminding passers-by of beauty, and grace, and a Creator; beauty, right down to the smallest blossom.

And in Amsterdam, a riotous display of colour in these cheerful yellow things...I'm no good at flower names, but I know beauty and cheer and joy and hope when I see it.  And having just come out of the Van Gogh museum, learning about a man who fought the darkness his whole life, who painted many things but chose to paint sunflowers three different times, with three different backgrounds, this abundance of yellow lit up my world for just a moment.

May these expressions of spring light up your world with a little beauty, too. 

And go out there and take it in. 

Autumn, Winter, Summer, Spring?

I love the seasons.

Even more, I love looking back at them.

And I can’t quite decide which season lends itself best to a wedding. Because every season has its beauty, and its remembrance:

The steadiness of summer, and the daylight that stretches long across the fields…

The multitude of colours that is autumn, and the variance of those colours on just one or two themes…

In the depth of winter, the beginnings of buds that will flourish soon…


…And spring. Oh, spring. There is such a wild exuberance in spring, flinging about its blossoms and flowers with abandon. There is abundance on the trees, and abundance spread about on the ground. Pink confetti, created by the hand of God.

And yet in spite of the gorgeous confetti, and spring’s flinging on of wedding-day garments that make you catch your breath, my vote would still lean towards autumn’s richness and glory.

But what’s your season?

Karen