.... what Spring?

Well, tempting to write an 'April Fool' piece - but who needs that at the moment?

The first thing we would like to say on this Post is about Ukraine: each of us has our own emotions when witnessing the events of the past weeks. Here, the nearby ex-mining town, Carmaux, has powerful links with Poland and Ukraine, based on their joint mining histories. Carmaux has lines of housing, originally build for Polish and Ukrainian miners who came to work there. The town's website is an example to us all in its clarity and pro-activity regarding how we can assist Ukraine at the moment - here is the link :

Well, back to life at 'Nichoir': earlier in March it looked as if Spring was well on its way; we had some beautiful sunsets after warm, calm days:

- and the signals for Spring were well on their way:

Graycie the Cat was not wholly convinced, and she had established a home from home in the hallway:

And of course, as is the way with cats, she was absolutely right to be cautious: we started to have very strong gales - not a lot of damage, but enough to wrench some large branches off our tall eucalyptus trees:

And then, waking up a few days ago and looking out the top windows we saw that snow had arrived and felt how the temperature had dropped.

As often happens here, perhaps because of our height (@500 metres) frosts and snow seem to sweep in two or three metres above the ground. So, it looks as if snowballs had  been thrown at the new greenery of the rose bushes and at the tree trunks and upper branches:

As usual, snow transforms the landscape and, at more close-up level, it redefines and accentuates the shapes of Nature. It makes one looks twice at familiar objects in the garden and the landscape. And because snow's covering creates an acoustically-deadened world it heightens the visual.
The winds have been from the North, piling snow against the small trees and shrubs that were just deciding to show their Spring greenery and growth:

Of course, it has been a shock to the plants and the just-emerging flowers and blossoms .... and it is difficult to distinguish between the snow and the blossom in places. On the pond, the water lilies had just decided to float to the surface, to be met by rather harsh conditions:

And outside the house it looks as if a painter has decided to re-paint the top-half of the front gate:

The wild life has been largely getting on with it; the birds using the feeders we have continued to supply. We have heard plenty of 'Little Owl activity', and woodpeckers have been much in evidence. In the pond the carp have just started to swim up from the deep spot in the middle areas of the water (3 metres plus). So, we are hoping that this cold spell will not last too long and that Spring is truly on its way in a more settled form.

If we do not write a Post prior to Easter, we wish you warmth and well-being for that and the Spring to come.