Awakening

Good bye winter, welcome spring!

Springtime means longer days and warmer weather. So it’s time to get up and about, enjoy the view and feel the warmth of the sun shining bright.

I will describe the springtime as the season of hope and new life. During this season, newborn calves and lambs are seen frolicking in green and grassy farmlands.

Around us, deciduous trees that were bald and were ‘sleeping’ during wintertime now start to come alive again and grow new shoots to become green again.

Deciduous trees starting to sprout new leaves

Native New Zealand evergreen trees and other garden plants show their buds starting to burst, giving us the joy and pleasure  of smelling and seeing flowers in different colors.

Kowhai tree (kowhai means yellow in Maori language)

In our own garden, the seeds sown recently start to germinate and are now getting ready to be transplanted. What’s another amazing scene at springtime is waking up early morning with a cacophony of birds’ songs that starts our day with a smile. Needless to say, the sun that shines bright calms the freezing winds giving us all the warmth to live and breath. 

Yes, springtime means longer days and warmer weather compared to freezing cold wintertime. For us who miss the sun so much, it’s a wonderful time of year that we can take off layers of clothing and be ready to jump into the spring sunshine. However, there are some not-so-pleasant things that springtime brings like the season of allergies. It’s the season when plants release their pollen causing hay fever to those who are allergic to it. And as a consequence, sniffling and sneezing become unavoidable. All we can and have to do is live with it and enjoy the season.

Now I am trying to revive my old blog spot, The Kitchen Hand’s Stories. This had been in a deep slumber since 2011 because of writer’s block that kept it inactive.

It started in 2006, originally meant to be a repository for my manuscripts and articles, but reading amazing food blogs, I was encouraged to include topics of interest to women like me, who love gardening, fine foods and good cooking. It was also a means to keep in touch with my family and friends who got far away from me when fate brought me to New Zealand. 

I would compare welcoming the spring time with the reviving of my own blog site. When I woke up after a deep slumber, I pressed on the keyboard of my computer and was quite puzzled that I found everything in the world wide web different with what it used to be! 

So I decided that now is the time to keep track of the modern technology to keep myself updated and  be informed on what is really happening around and inside the world wide web. 

I hope you would enjoy the new posts and photos I share. Let’s keep in touch more often via your comments that will inspire me to tell you more about life here in the land of the long and white clouds--New Zealand! 

Blossoms of a plum tree

Kowhai

Tulip

All photos © Mel Wood