photo challenge (28/30) – flowers

The seasons are finally shifting and Spring is kicking into action. The trees are budding, the days are getting longer and warmer, and the flowers are poking their heads out of the ground. At last, the season of growth is here!

Flowers mean so much to people and we all take a different meaning from them. They can make a sad person smile; send love to a relative when you can’t be there in person; they tell someone you love them, just because you wanted to; they can bring comfort to someone in pain; or they can just brighten a room.

I was born in Spring, so it’s only natural that I feel drawn to this season of life and renewal. When I walk through Westbourne and into Bournemouth, seeing the trees coming into blossom actually puts a smile on my face (which doesn’t happen too often, or easily).

voyeurism – the laines

Brighton is an escape for me and him, much like observing people is when I have the time to indulge. Combining the two and it’s near perfect for me.

We spent the day in Brighton earlier this year for my birthday (I won’t be revealing my exact age). The day began thick in grey cloud, evaporating to reveal a blue sky as the afternoon wore on. All of the usual favourite things to do were ticked off our list – shopping in The Laines, sitting on the beach drinking tea, wandering aimlessly through the crowds – great fun!

With just enough time for a quick spot of voyeurism and photography, I was a very happy thirty-something.

like confetti on the ground

Before this season is over and before the wind has blown away all evidence of Spring, I would like to share a photograph that I took last week.  It was a rare day when the sun was bright and the sky was blue.  As I walked to get the bus to work, I couldn’t help but notice the Cherry Blossoms that dotted the footpaths of Grosvenor Road, leading to Westbourne.  They had all suddenly come into full bloom overnight.

Now as I walk towards Westbourne to take my bus, the trees look like they’ve seen better days (I suppose they have).  This season seems to be the complete opposite of last year, when the sun came out pretty much every single day.  Last Spring was more like Summer.  Oh well, what will be, will be.  I thought this photo might make a nice addition to my ‘One-a-Day’ photo blog.  I’ve always had a soft spot for the Cherry Blossom – we always had one growing in our garden when I was young.  Enjoy it, before all that’s left are the petals, scattered like confetti on the ground.

we need more days like this

Somedays the sun shines on the sea and gives it a luminous quality. You don’t see this very often but there are the odd day or two when you do.

It’s not like this at all today, for this photograph was taken a few days ago as I walked to work along the beach, camera in hand. As I walk to work today, the clouds are chasing me along the seafront, pushing their cold wind on my back. I’m not entirely surprised to see that the beach is very quiet, in comparison to the day when I took this photo. It is for no other reason, than the fact that we need more days like this, that I have selected it to fill the 22nd slot of my ‘One-a-Day’ photo blog.

here comes the rain

I can’t get over how quickly this year is going. In little over a week it’ll be May and a month from today, my sister and her husband will celebrate their first anniversary. The older you get, the quicker the time seems to pass by.

The weather on the other hand doesn’t seem to be going anywhere and is making itself known, and we are all very certain that it is still spring. One minute the sun shines brightly and some people feel the need to put on their shorts and T shirts. Then before you know it, the weather turns on you and unleashes heavy rain, thunder and hail. Crazy. This photograph, my 21st entry for my ‘One-a-Day’ photo blog was taken on one such day. Thankfully, I got to where I was going before the rain and hail came flooding down.

kite surfer

I’ve just got home from an hour or so on the beach.  Okay, I haven’t.  I’ve just woken up from an afternoon nap.  The weather today probably wasn’t quite nice enough to want to spend an hour or so on the beach.  Fingers, toes and eyes are crossed that the weather perks up again tomorrow so I can spend an hour or so on the beach.  So far, I have managed to miss out on having any time to walk, sit or lay on the sand (I’ll thank work for that).

At this time of year you will see a lot of surfer dudes heading down to the sea, although I’ve never quite understood why.  The water that hits the sand along the Bournemouth beach is normally too still – like a mill-pond.  You may have a few days when the wind picks up and the tide gets ‘rowdy’ and waves might reach one or two feet in height.  Hardly Bondi Beach.  But when the wind picks up and the sun is still shining, these surfer dudes may attach a big kite to their surf boards and go flying across that pond we call the sea.  Sandbanks is rife for this kind of action, if that’s what takes your fancy.  I quite like watching them, in their wet suits but it’s not for me.  I’m more of a spectator when it comes to this kind of activity. This photograph was taken sometime last year, and is my choice for today’s installment of this months one-a-day photo blog.

governed by the weather

Tonight I finished work an hour early, which is great for me but not so much for my bank balance. I’ll suffer that at a later date. It was an insufferably quiet night in the restaurant, so I suppose I wouldn’t be missing out on very much. After leaving the bus, I walked along the West Overcliff Drive down towards Alum Chine. I could almost feel my body relaxing into the comforting firmness of our sofa.

The temperature outside is dropping and the mist is rising. The street lights are blurred by the ghostly fog that hangs in the air and there is a very definite eeriness in the dark. Lately I’ve been feeling like my mood is completely governed by the weather, and the way the weather has been over the last few days, my mood hasn’t exactly been brimming with cheer.

I was born in April – an Aries. The first sign of the zodiac and a month of natural beauty and rebirth. Trees are stretching out their fingers after a long wintry sleep, with buds of blossom filling their once naked branches. These are the days that cheer me up no end, the ones filled with sun – they make me look forward to the summer.

However, summer and indeed sunshine seem to have taken a step back from their leading role in the seasons these days. A fleeting moment that’s over before you know it. Spring seems to be more like summer. Last year, I sunbathed more during April and May. June, July and August were more grey than blue and more rain than sun. Happiness turned quickly into a frustrated sadness, with SAD setting in more quickly than had been hoped for (not that I enjoy feeling sad).

It’s now a few days later and my mood and the weather have fluctuated a fair bit. The sun decided to show his face this morning, and being that it’s my day off, I decided to walk myself to Westbourne while it lasted. I’m now sat facing the window in Elsie Harrhy, a local coffee shop that serves delicious homemade slices of cake with a perfect cappuccino or tea to accompany it.

With the sudden break in the gloomy weather, it’s quite amazing how much more uplifted one feels. Maybe it’s the sun, maybe it’s the ginger cake. For now I’ll convince myself that it is in fact, the weather creating this remarkable change in my mood. I just wish that Rob didn’t have to work today, as he could be sat here with me enjoying this little moment of unadulterated happiness. It’s a small thing, but I’m a firm believer that it’s the small things that make all the difference.

Later on, after I’ve got the food shop out the way, I’m going to trip down to the beach and enjoy the sun while it lasts. Maybe I’ll sit and watch the sun set over the sea. Bournemouth beach is a great place to sit in peace at this time of year. The few tourists that do make it down to our beautiful stretch of sand, barely set foot on our end of the beach. And all the better for it.

The last few crumbs of my cake have been picked from the old china plate, and I’m sipping down the last dregs of my cappuccino. The grey clouds have rolled back across the sky again – I think it’s time to make tracks back towards home. Seven more hours and he’ll be home again. As I walk back down Alumhurst Road, I press play on my iPhone. The National starts – Sorrow. It seems befitting of the sudden change in the weather.