Setanta wrote:
Quote:The Summer country--i had thought you were in bleak and windy Cornwall. Do you have wood lots near you? Is it reasonable to call it forest?
I visit Cornwall a lot because I love the rugged, bleakness of the coast. I can be there in between two and three hours from where I live.
The cottage we're renting is part of the Waldegrave Estate in the Chew Valley situated southeast of Bath and southwest of Bristol. I can walk through three pastures and be down to their wood lot- but the forest I'm talking about is further south- more toward Wookey Hole and Wells near Ebbor Gorge. It's definitely a forest- so I think it's reasonable to call it that.
Quote:For me, spring always was heralded by the lilac and the lily of the valley--not that spring required them, just that from the time i was a little boy, they were to me the signal that spring had truly arrived. Of course, i understand that in the northern United States, the lilac does not bloom until late spring or early summer.
I think everything seems early here this year. There were some trees- maybe some kind of ornamental flowering plum- that were in full flower at the end of January or beginning of February- it looked very strange. The hawthorn in the hedges bloomed almost a month early this year, the dog roses are already fully in bloom, and I even have poppies already.
*Speaking of lilacs, they have a shade of lilac here that I've never seen before - it's kind of a red/violet, almost maroon shade. When it's planted in between a white and the normal purple- it's absolutely beautiful.
(actually closer to Red Lion, though) 
In the 70's here today. The warmer it gets outside .....the warmer I get! :wink: 
