Life: Idiotropic

Sittard in the spring is particularly beautiful. After months of scurrying to the bagel shop to escape the cold, today the girls and I walked along the narrow path between the homes of Putstraat and the little fenced off gardens hiding behind.

We hadn't walked back there since late fall, so it felt good in the sun to see something other than the usual concrete. The chickens and sheep were out and people were working in their gardens clearing out old branches as they pruned their trees. Pruning is as common here as buying a pumpkin on Halloween. It's just something that anyone with a tree or bush does. And many of them are polarded (chopped off entirely to a fat little ball at the top from where it will fill out in the spring) or espaliered (with certain branches fanned out along wired creating a flat fence of tree).

All the bare sticks now have little tiny buds and soft green leaves emerging from them. I enjoyed seeing the contrast of this hydrangea - with the dried blooms from last season existing along side the new leaves of spring.

Farmers for the last couple weeks have been out in full force. Every field is sprinkled with tractors of all kinds. Just last week the spargel (asparagus) rows appeared. Then - 7 days later - the snow fell.

So, here's the contrast - photos above from last Monday when it was warm. I wore a light sweater and sandals with my jeans. It was comfortable. This Monday is snowed and now it's bitterly cold snowing, hailing, or sleeting a little bit every day.

This was the third snow of this winter, but the first time I've had a chance to photograph it. So, below are a couple photos of the snow covered spargel rows. I wish I'd had the chance to photograph the daffodils bowing under the weight of small piles of snow balancing on their heads like white knit caps. They were funny to see and would have captured the true feel of this season when one can go from warmth to snow in such a short time with no rhyme or reason.