Making do

Saturday afternoon there was a break in the overcast and the temperature climbed to 65F/18C. Although I’d turned the heater off, sunlight warmed my room almost uncomfortably, the first real sign that Summer is coming. I also noticed that the hedge is sprouting new leaves and hyacinths are in bud.

But Easter Sunday dawned wet and cold. Changeable weather is bad for old bones, otherwise it doesn’t trouble me. One day when it was not actually raining, we took a short drive.

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Although drab, the scene had a cheerful rosy hue.

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When I don’t go along on a ride, Grant always sees something good. Recently it was a highland cow. We are very partial to them and this one was in a place we pass all the time, but we’d never seen cattle there. So when we decided to take a drive, that’s where we went.

Disappointingly, the cow was almost out of sight at the far end of the field, so all I got was a picture of an antique car. What Grant calls a Mafia car.

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We came upon turkeys crossing the road and in the fields, more numerous this year than we’ve ever seen, but after yesterday’s post, I doubt you need more photographs of them.

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Under a grey sky, the fields looked bright, the patterns attractive.

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It’s the sort of scene I’d like to paint if I was an artist.

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Perhaps I’d call it “Awakening”.

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Despite the overcast, the woods seemed alight.

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After recent rain and with so much snow melt, rivers are running very high and swift.

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The Hoosic is fed by the Walloomsac which was gushing.

Unfortunately it is impossible to get close enough for a decent photo.

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A dark background makes a good setting for a white birch.

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It may not have been raining, but it was a very dim day!

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Even such days are not without merit.

For it was evident everywhere that life is returning.

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Just as light had found its way into the woods, it also found the roofs of farm buildings.

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It is true that a brighter day would produce more cheerful images.

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But my mother taught me to make do with what we have.

God knows she had a great deal of practice through much of her life.

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Our first year in Cambodia, in the absence of a Christmas tree, she purchased a big green plant and decorated it with bright red roses that she make from crepe paper.

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Mum had to be creative in the kitchen too, since many of the ingredients she customarily used would not have been available. My parents got shipments from Hong Kong, but sugar was dispatched in sacks that were unprotected and arrived covered in ants. The flour she bought soon contained weevils.

It seems to have been curiously optimistic, but Mum ordered me some Crunchie bars and those arrived intact but with melted centres which was hardly surprising. In any case, hot weather, chocolate seemed less appetizing.

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The Owl Kill was also moving at a fast pace, well recovered from the drought that saw it all but dry up, despite the floods of last Spring. Living in the country you really get to see how quickly and drastically everything can change.

When we have a string of grey, wet days, I remind myself of that long dry period when everything was parched and how much worse it would have been without the wet Spring.

Our forecast calls for snow tomorrow.

Anything is possible.

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