Sunday, May 19, 2013

52 Weeks of Happy - Week Twenty

Week twenty already?   Here are four simple things that have made me smile this week.........

1. Colours! We've been on a couple of walks this week and after the days and more days of waiting suddenly everywhere there is colour.  In the bright acid green of the beech trees, in the fleeting, hard to capture blue of the bluebells, in the delicate yellow of the cowslips and the deep purple of hedgerow honesty.
Wonderful!


2. Birdsong!  We still have so many lovely birds in the garden.  They seem to have stayed with us beyond winter and spring and we now regularly see goldfinch, greenfinch and chaffinch on the feeders as well as the  sparrows and blackbirds.  I usually wake at 4a.m. on at least a couple of mornings each week and if I can't get back to sleep I get up and make a mug of tea.  On Friday morning I was awake at four so I got up and watched the sunrise whilst I listened to the birds.  First to start was the blackbird who went through his melodic repertoire, then the others gradually joined in.  When the world was finally awake I went back to bed and slept for a couple more hours.


3. Growth!  In the garden are many things to look forward to including chives, strawberries, gooseberries and wild garlic.  Plants in the garden with flowers getting ready to open are peonies, aquilegia, perennial cornflower and rhododendrons.
 

4. Wickerwork bees!  We found some new wickerwork bees in one of the show gardens at Trentham Estates, I call it the 'lift and sniff' garden as there are several boxes where you can do just that.  I expect it is really called the scented or plants for bees garden or something like that - anyway, they made me smile.

Link to  Little Birdie  where  '52 weeks of Happy' started. Each week you find just four things that have made you happy to share. 

22 comments:

  1. Four wonderful things! I can hear the birds singing in my garden right now. There was a spell when I didn't hear or see any for months. It is especially welcome to see so many sparrows. x

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    1. Yes it is good to see sparrows as they are supposed to be declining in numbers but we have loads in our garden because we still have hedges they can hide and roost in on two sides of the garden:)

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  2. I'm enjoying the birdsong too, but I'm not good at mornings and I don't often wake to hear the dawn chorus. Those bees are great and I like the idea of the lift and sniff garden. It's amazing how suddenly the world had turned green and colourful again!

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    1. I sometimes wish I didn't wake to hear the dawn chorus too often!:) The bees were fun and the lift and sniff boxes all smelt the same to me - I must try them again. Everywhere is so wonderfully green now:)

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  3. My husband has been teaching one of the blackbirds Colonel Bogey, he already knows The Adams' Family intro. The Bluebells are wonderful at the moment aren't they? Let us hope the sun lasts.

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    1. Ha - we have a black bird who sings the first few notes of 'I'm a Barbie Girl' and something we call 'A bit of a mystery' - it's funny what tunes we can hear in their songs:)

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  4. I know what you mean about the colours - but the one I'm noticing most is the green - it's been so long since everything looked so lush! Hope you've enjoyed the weekend sunshine x Jane

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    1. The greens are wonderful at the moment aren't they? So vibrant and fresh. We had a lovely walk in the sunshine on sunday morning:)

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  5. I've still not got round to bedroom curtains, so I wake early too. I love to listen to the dawn chorus. You're right, the blackbird always starts it off...

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    1. Yes, the blackbirds always seem to be up and about first quite a while before the smaller birds, I've noticed that they seem to be the last to roost at night too:)

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  6. How lovely to see signs of spring and hear the dawn chorus. We are a few weeks behind and it is still cold here. I'm looking forward to seeing more colours as the garden wakes up again.

    I've been enjoying Tweet of the Day on Radio 4. Not quite the same as actually hearing the dawn chorus, but I do like being able to hear the individual bird song.

    Marie x

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    1. We wait so long for all the colour and then suddenly it is there - everything seems to be coming out at once this year with early Spring flowers still around as the early Summer ones start to appear:)

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  7. What a great collection of spring images you've captured Rosie.

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    1. Thanks, there were so many to chose from this week:)

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  8. The dawn chorus is magical, isn't it? It is a lovely time of year, the colours are so fresh. I love the bees!

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    1. The bees were very cute! I always think May and June are such a wonderful time of the year when everything is fresh and new:)

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  9. I enjoy waking up to the dawn chorus even though it's so early. The fresh green plants and added colour of the flowers makes up for the grey skies. It would be good to have some sunshine! It's less cold, which is a positive.

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    1. Dismal rain again today but the gardens do need it. The dawn chorus is wonderful at the moment and we still have some lovely birds visiting our feeders and nesting in the hedges around the garden:)

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  10. Saw your comment over on Lilac's blog re incinerators etc., so thought I would pop over. Lovely photos, reminding me that yes we did have sunshine last week. Hard to remember since the last two days have been grey, mizzly, misty, cool and thoroughly miserable, especially considering it's May.
    Nice choice of reading too, have read a few of them myself.

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    1. Hello Maggie and welcome. It is so grey, mizzly and misty here too today - very miserable in fact. Just the kind of day to stay in and read a good book:)

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  11. How lovely to get up at 4am and listen to the bird song, watching the sunrise with a cuppa! I really must try and do this one morning. x

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    1. It was actually quite nice to sit and watch it get light and hear the birds start chirruping - there is a blackbird singing outside now as I type this - they seem to start first in the morning and are the last to keep singing in the evening:)

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