Saturday 7 April 2012

Spring Pictures

Yes, I do have some spring pictures, too! They may not be as stunning as some of those I have seen on other people's blogs over the past week or so, but they show what spring is like over here at the moment: a bit too cold, with the possibility of snow (I hope not!), but that cold spell came after almost two weeks of sunshine and mild to warm temperatures, which was all it took for the flowers to come out and the whole spring thing to get started properly.

This picture is from the 27th of March, the by now rather familiar view from my kitchen window:


And here is a close-up of the bit with the little primroses that I find so pretty:

On that same day, I was observing this magpie for a while. It was sitting on the cherry tree (seen through my other kitchen window, and the picture was taken through the glass) and did not move for a long time. Another magpie (its partner?) came to sit next to this one, and I expected the two of them to fly off together, but this one remained after the other one had gone. I thought that maybe this one was sick or injured, and when finally it WAS gone (I did not stay with my nose against the window all afternoon), I checked the ground below the cherry tree to see whether it had fallen down. It was nowhere to be seen, though, and so I hope it simply was taking a well-deserved break from the serious business of nest building etc.

A few days later, on the 4th of April, some of the buds on the cherry tree had opened, and if you compare the trees, shrubs and flowers in the garden below, you can see that quite a lot has happened there as well.

And today, in spite of the cold and grey, the cherry tree and everything else shows even more flowers! Even though summer is my favourite time of the year, spring has so much charm and there is all that delicacy in the flowers and colours, I love it!

Happy Easter, everyone!

35 comments:

  1. Hübsche Bilder, die auch frohe Ostern :)

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  2. Dear Meike,
    I love the primroses! And your eggs in the photo perfectly match the pretty pink roses in the vase. Happy Easter to you!
    (And I am still tickled that I got your vintage/retro quiz correctly!)

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    1. Kay, you did, didn't you! :-)
      Yes, those primroses are so pretty! I do hope that, when I'll be in England by the end of this month, there will my favourite forgetmenots in my mother-in-law's front garden in full bloom. Of course, there will be pictures!

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    2. Dear Meike,
      I hope you will get some good photos of the forget-me-nots! Those are forget-me-nots in the photos at the bottom of my blog, they were in my mother-in-law's front garden in England! Hope you have a wonderful visit while you are there. Eat some fish & chips for me!

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    3. Dear Kay, yes, every time I visit your blog, I am happy to see those pretty forgetmenots at the bottom of the page!

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    4. Dear Meike,
      I wondered if anyone noticed them! Of course, dear Meike would, always!

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  3. As you know, I love the views from your kitchen window and if you ever have time would like to see the fronts of your neighbor's homes whose gardens (back yards over here) that I've grown to enjoy.
    Did you dye those eggs? They are lovely as is the flower and I really like the bud vase.

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    1. Jill, I never thought of taking pictures of the fronts of those houses. People here are very sensitive about such things (Google Street View was banned from several German towns) and I am not sure they would appreciate them to be published on here. Well, I suppose I could ask...
      Those eggs are plastic - they are much larger than normal eggs, and there is a small Hello Kitty figure inside each one.

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    2. Oh definitely don't do that! I wouldn't dream of insulting your neighbors and will be content to enjoy their gardens. Oh reflection, I wouldn't want anyone photographing my home either and I felt a sense of violation when the Google Street View and the Overhead View were published for the world to see!

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    3. You know you can ask them to blur the views of your home. Many people in Germany have done that. My attitude towards the whole idea of pictures on the internet is a bit different; I always think, who would want to do me any harm? And how would they do that, simply by knowing what my house (or my face) looks like?

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  4. Happy and blessed Easter to you.

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  5. It's interesting to see just how quickly nature does develop during Spring.

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    1. Yes, isn't it! One could just walk around and observe all this all day long.

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  6. I love seeing the changes... almost like a time-lapse. Here in the smaller latitudes, the changes are not as fast. Must be very exciting!

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    1. It is very uplifting, Katherine, and I guess I would dearly miss the changing of the seasons, were I to live somewhere without such pronounced differences.

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  7. Happy Easter to you as well. I love seeing the changes in the view from your window -- you probably have a year-long series starting here.

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    1. Thank you, Mark!
      Well, there are already many pictures of this view on my blog, taken in various types of weather and season, and in 2009, I had a little project going on, "My Year in Pictures", and took a photo of that view almost every day (save the days I wasn't home, obviously). You can see the whole year (310 pictures) here, if you are interested:
      http://s524.photobucket.com/albums/cc327/MeksPics/My%202009%20-%20A%20Year%20In%20Pictures/

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  8. Happy Easter, Meike! I love the primroses blooming. such lovely colors.

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    1. Thank you, Kristi! They really are pretty, aren't they!

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  9. Lovely primroses! I find Spring so exciting, it is like the world is waking up again!

    Hope you had a lovely Easter.

    Best,
    e

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    1. We did, Elizabeth, thank you - and I hope it was a lovely time for you and your family, too. Yes, this waking-up of everything around us makes us feel so optimistic, doesn't it?

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  10. I hope your Easter was good. Maaybe you should do a time lapse movie out of the window, photograph each day from your window and it would be fun to watch the seasons changing. I have often thought I'd do that but I don't have a place where I can keep a camera for a year without it getting in the way or getting knocked over. I guess that might be why more of us don't take time lapse movies!

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    1. In 2009, I did exactly that, take a photo out of that window (almost) every day. You can look at the album of 310 pictures here, if you like.

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  11. Happy Easter Librarian!
    Over here we have a superstition tht one magpie is unlucky. If you see one you have to salute it to ward off bad luck.
    Is this just a bit of scottish nonsense?

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    1. Thank you, Macy!
      Well, I never see just one magpie on its own; I think my area is quite the magpie-paradise, and they are positively thriving here, much to the chagrin of the smaller birds, whose little ones are a welcome snack to them. So I suppose to baby sparrows, robins, finches et al seeing a magpie is indeed unlucky.

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  12. trivial, but I've never seen a magpie. I wonder if they are indigenous to the US.
    I am so glad I came here; I've missed quite a bit not visiting here. I imagine it'll take me a while to browse through your archive.
    ~hugs to you on this Easter Wednesday~

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    1. It's not going anywhere (my archive, that is), so just take as long as you wish to browse :-)

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  13. I just googled...magpies live in the western part of the USA; so it seems I'll probably never see one in the flesh.

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    1. I didn't know that - thank you for letting me learn something new!

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