…and I’m feeling strangely optimistic. I suppose it’s because spring signifies a new start in more ways than one where I’m concerned – I was born in September, after all.
Spring in SA has arrived right on cue. Friday still we had terribly cold weather and even snow in some parts of the country, but on Monday the sun shone warm and bright in the sky. The nights are still chilly, but during the day it’s already warm enough to make one believe summer is on its way.
Green shoots are peeking out all over the place, courtesy of some unseasonal winter rain two weeks ago, and my neighbour’s clivia is in full bloom on our communal porch.
One can’t help but feel positive in circumstances like this. I’ve even dropped my winter laziness and started exercising again. Here’s hoping I can keep it up (not just the exercise, but the attitude as well).
if all else fails...use a hammer 
I was looking for your post on gumming up the works and saw the links to my blog. Thanks. I appreciate it.
Since I never did find Gumming Up the Works, if you’ll forgive me, I’ll post the comment here, although it really belongs there: I recently found out the origin of the phrase “pulling your weight” and thought you might be interested. Cornish gigs used to pull sailing ships into harbor (the harbors here must’ve been a nightmare to negotiate under sail), and gig racing is an increasingly popular sport. A friend who’s a member of our local club was talking about a rower who’s not pulling her weight, and she meant it literally. You have to pull your own weight and more if you’re going to be any use–and they have a gizmo to measure how much weight a rower pulls.
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That’s interesting. (I infer from context a gig is a rowing boat? Pulling a big ship into harbour that way must be exhausting!) I’m sure I’d be able to come up with my own interesting reason for that one, though. It’s going on the list for future posts.
Those links are only my likes-widget, so it took minimal effort on my part, but you’re welcome 🙂
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*Note to self: Make a list of all the brilliant phrase suggestions and the people who suggested them.
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I love your blog title and art!!! Thank you for answering my question in the Forum (off line writing). It was reassuring. Do you add your media to Word or add it after you have copied your post to WP?
It is still Summer here in Northwestern USA. We are having Summer weather during the day and Fall weather at night (making it easier to sleep). Where do you live?
I am now one of your followers. I hope you will visit my blog and choose to follow it. I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future!
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Hi Cathy
I can’t believe you’re accusing me of *gasp* art! 😉 The title I chose at random because WordPress told me I had to choose a title, but it has grown on me since then.
I hope my advice helped. I add my images here, usually only after I’m completely done with writing the post (unless it’s a post with mainly images).
Enjoy your summer while it lasts. I hear winter can get pretty hectic over there (I have friends in Minnesota). I’m in South Africa.
Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be sure to come visit you as well. However, as you bring it up, let me be very forthright and tell you I don’t follow people indiscriminately if they follow me. If I like what you write, I’ll click follow for sure, but if I don’t, please don’t take it personally. I only have so much time for reading blogs and it’s not worth it for me to have a bunch of blogs I never read clogging up my Reader feed.
Likewise I won’t feel insulted if you decide eventually my blog isn’t living up to your first impressions. I’m kinda surprised people don’t do it more often… XD
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I will not be offended at all. I know my topics tend to lean toward crafting, Women’s Issues and Tuesday Quotes. 🙂
As far as your blog goes, I enjoy reading a variety of blogs. I like your current posts and your writing style.
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Spring’s sprung here on the other side of the Roaring Forties, too. Temps have come up and the pollen’s flying about. We’re emerging, finally, from the bleakness and wet of winter into the warmth and wet of spring. Later we’ll be able to enjoy the heat and rain of summer. I write this with two weeks’ laundry stacked up and spring rains beating down relentlessly on the window. I suspect SA is a bit drier than NZ! 🙂
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Don’t mention pollen. My sinuses are already filling up with quick-drying concrete. But late-summer is the worst, when the maize fields enter their pollination phase.
It’s a good bit drier here. Central SA is an exclusively summer rainfall area, so any rain between March and September is considered a very welcome bonus. This year the seasons appear to be in sync again, so I’m expecting the first good rain next Monday – many a birthday party of my childhood was disrupted by the first rains of spring.
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And here we are finally ready for some cold weather, and loving the slow decline in temperatures. The other day I noticed some yellow in the poplars, and after such a hot summer I’m hoping for a glorious fall. But … you have clivias. How I miss them!
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It’s that temperatures declining bit I don’t like. I hate the cold. But autumn is a beautiful season.
My former math teacher grows clivias. Her entire yard is basically one massive greenhouse and every year she opens it up for the public once they start flowering. A few hundred of them blooming at once is a sight to behold.
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Sounds beautiful! Hope you will post a picture if you go to see them this year…:)
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If I go I definitely will. It’s not at a fixed date (flowers don’t keep diaries, after all), but they usually announce it in the local paper.
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What town is it in? My parents live in Randburg … would love to tell them about it, if it’s not too far.
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Kroonstad, so if they’re up to a two-hour drive… I have your email address via the comments section on the dashboard, so with your permission I’ll let you know via email if I find out the date for the open-garden. It usually runs for three or four days.
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That would be great, thank you! I’ll let them know, and maybe they’ll feel like a road trip – especially if they have friends in that direction.
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I’ll mail you as soon as I know 🙂
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Lucky you. I flew back home to a cold winter when it was gorgeous weather here in the Northern Hemisphere. Now that I’m back it’s getting cold here too. Double winters suck a lot.
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Ouch. I’ve also done the double-winter thing and it’s no fun at all. At least winter is pretty over there. Our winters are dry and colourless, so there’s no beauty to distract us from the cold 🙂
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