What signs of the changing season are you tracking?

[petra]

We may be mostly inside, but the world outside keeps turning. How are you keeping tabs on the season as it changes?

Comments

[petra]

In my part of the northern hemisphere, the magnolias are just starting to bloom. They're always so glorious and lush at the turning of the spring.

[desireearmfeldt]

I am fortunate to have an apartment with many windows, and my neighborhood is densely settled but full of trees and little scraps of front/backyard gardens. (I have never lived in a real suburb, but also never in a real middle-of-the-city neighborhood. Also, apparently my city has more trees than some.)

So I spend a lot of time looking out windows, watching first the crocuses and daffs and the magnolia (?) next door flowering, now the maples moving from bud to flower (sniffle!) -- the world is yellow-green this week! The lilac in front of my house that the downstairs neighbors put in a couple of years ago is budding (though the one thing I can't see without going outside is my own front 'yard'). In my balcony pot garden, the strawberries and oregano are leafing like nobody's business, the other herbs are tentatively budding leaves, and my spouse's beloved but horribly fecund and invasive hyssop is going strong, despite the fact that I plowed it under and carelessly transplanted a few random sprouts into a smaller pot.

Meanwhile, April is determined to go out like a cold, wet lion around these parts. Wind and rain lashing the house lately, though the sun's making a tentative appearance today. Longer daylight even when it's cloudy, which is definitely a spirit lifter.

[petra]

One subspecies of magnolia -- large, white/offwhite blooms are standard in my area.

The maples flowering are always a sign of my needing to start taking allergy medication for a while, I agree. April can't figure out how it wants to end here -- for a few days we get nice weather, and then it goes back to being bitterly cold and raining.

[desireearmfeldt]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the things I think of as magnolias actually are -- it just always seems so implausible, because I associate them so strongly with the US South, what are they doing way up here on the North?

[fairestcat]

We went for a neighbourhood walk earlier and had a socially-distant coffee visit with an extrovert friend who lives alone, and it was the first sandal day of the year, AND the very first flowers have started to bloom in our front garden.

At this point I'm keeping track by what I have to wear to walk the dog, and what is or is not blooming around here.

[petra]

Yay a sandal day, and having flowerss blooming in the front garden!

[cynthia1960]

I have a porch looking out on our street and a inner courtyard in our building I can go in to see the day star burning.

[petra]

That sounds pleasant.

[mific]

Mostly through the ambient temperature, as I don't get out much. I don't have much sense of the seasons shifting to autumn, as it hasn't gotten cold yet. That'll come!

[petra]

Something to look forward to!

[illariy]

Here in Germany, we were always allowed outside for exercise with people we live with or with one other person, 1.5 m apart. So I have been out regularly. But even from my room, I can see a number of trees in bloom and when I go outside, I see more trees in bloom, flowers on the ground and on bushes, I smell some of them and hear the birds singing and the first bumblebees and wasps buzzing around. I also had the 3 first mosquito bites of this year a couple of weeks ago. That was nice! (I love the first ones but not the rest.) And of course, the grass and the leaves of teh trees are at their top freshness of green, which I love. Spring is such a great season.

[petra]

I like the idea of enjoying the first mosquito bites as a sign of the changing seasons. Thank you for sharing your springtime. It sounds lush and beautiful.

[scytale]

I haven't been out in a while, but I got to see the cherry blossoms and wisteria. I've lived in my city for years, but this was my first time actually really noticing the nature, so that was nice.

There are also some flowers on some bushes outside my window. I don't actually know what kind they are, but I've been wondering. And even inside, I've been noticing it getting warmer as the season changes.

And I planted flower seeds in my window box. Crossing my fingers that they actually sprout, I'm death to all plants around me.

[petra]

Cherry blossoms say spring like very few things do. I'm glad you're appreciating new-to-you aspects of the place where you live now.

Good luck with the flower seeds! I have a black thumb myself so I hesitate to do anything crazy like plant something that might eventually germinate and need me to take care of it.

[duskpeterson]

It mainly affects me mainly in terms of sunrise time; I only go into the shared area of the apartment building between midnight and sunrise.

But the warmer the days here, the more people who are out for a walk. It's interesting to watch them from the window.

[petra]

I hope your schedule works for you, as it sounds idiosyncratic enough to be precisely designed to your measurements.

Yay for having more people to watch as they wander by your window!

[duskpeterson]

I have the good fortune to be a night owl with a Circadian Rhythm that's from another planet. :) But the practical reason for the night outings is of course to avoid other tenants.

[petra]

Those sound like two concerns that mesh well together.